Bolstered by the new coronavirus pandemic, scams continue to be rampant in the cryptocurrency world. From malware to fake investment programs and even fake donations to health organizations, scammers are known for taking advantage of desperate times and desperate people. One of the most prominent scams in the industry, PlusToken, has come under the spotlight again after rumours emerged that the March crash was caused by its operators selling their stolen Bitcoin (BTC).

According to research by Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis company, PlusToken did not cause the Black Thursday sell-off of March 12. In a recent webinar, Chainalysis sought to bring clarity to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cryptocurrency markets by analyzing key points in on-chain data such as exchange inflow and more.

During the presentation, Philip Gradwell, the chief economist at Chainalysis, addressed a somewhat common opinion that the crypto market crash that happened March 12 to March 13 was caused by PlusToken liquidating the Bitcoin acquired through its Ponzi scheme, which came to around $2.9 billion, according to Chainalysis. In the webinar, Gradwell stated:

We can also dispel another theory that has been going around, that PlusToken [...] selling triggered the price decline. We actually dont think thats the case because PlusToken had largely cashed out before early March.

According to Chainalysis data, PlusToken movements to exchanges decreased severely before the crash, which indicates funds were already cashed out. A noticeable amount of 12,423 Bitcoin, worth $123 million at the time, was moved to a mixer or cold wallet on Feb. 12, followed by a similar amount in early March. Its possible that the Bitcoin was cashed out immediately to avoid exchanges freezing funds.

PlusToken may still have 61,229 Bitcoin, currently worth around $420 million, according to a report released by OXT Research on March 10. While some Bitcoin has been sold after the crash, low prices seem to discourage those behind PlusToken from selling, if they are still in fact holding such large quantities of Bitcoin. Its possible that the PlusToken operators may be waiting for the Bitcoin halving to capture a higher price.

According to Chainalysis, volumes prior to and during December 2019 were much higher than those observed in 2020. The accentuated inflows were discussed in another Chainalysis report where it took another stance on the PlusToken and Bitcoin price relation, stating that at the time the sell-offs from PlusToken were keeping Bitcoin prices down.

Although PlusToken has largely cashed out, there is still a chance it will continue to affect Bitcoin. According to Kim Grauer, the head of research at Chainalysis, a large sell-off by PlusToken could bring down the price of Bitcoin in the future, especially if liquidations are executed irresponsibly. She told Cointelegraph:

We found in the past that large inflows to exchanges, such as those from PlusToken last year, tend to increase the price volatility on exchanges. This problem can potentially be exacerbated by trading bots that pick up on those on-chain movements and execute trades, not to mention the highly leveraged positions on derivatives exchanges that can get liquidated rather quickly. But overall, prices tend to bounce back quickly from those one-off events.

PlusToken, now known as the biggest cryptocurrency exit scam in history so far was a 2019 Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors out of $2.9 billion in cryptocurrency assets by posing as a South Korea-based crypto wallet project that offered depositors interest in crypto, a practice that has become fairly common in decentralized finance applications, centralized banking applications and exchanges offering margin trading.

PlusToken explained that its high interest payments would be generated by exchange profits, mining and referral programs. Shortsighted by the promising gains, over 3 million users registered with PlusToken.The scheme even announced that it expected to grow to 10 million users by the end of 2019, shortly before it exited with depositors money.

Related: Crypto Exit Scams How to Avoid Falling Victim

In China, PlusToken was quickly exposed as a Ponzi scheme when six individuals were arrested by Chinese authorities in June 2019, with reports connecting them to the PlusToken project. Cointelgraph reported on the incident at the time, but it was in August 2019 that the cybersecurity firm CipherTrace released its second quarter Cryptocurrency Anti-Money Laundering Report that confirmed the connection to the PlusToken scam.

Interest-generating products have been gaining evermore popularity in the cryptosphere, including MakerDAOs decentralized protocol, which according to a report by DappRadar saw peak activity during March, and other centralized options such as BlockFis banking app or Binances lending services. Although crypto has always been prone to illicit activity and shady ventures, the relatively high interest rates practiced in these services may have helped normalize PlusTokens profit claims, easing unwary investors.

Similar models have been seen elsewhere. In August 2019, a cryptocurrency wallet project from Nigeria called Satowallet allegedly made off with $1 million in a smaller-scale exit scam. Last year, another Ponzi scheme promising returns from cloud mining also made headlines after pulling off a $200 million exit scam that later resulted in 14 individuals being arrested.

An ever-increasing number of topical crypto-schemes have surfaced since the worsening of the coronavirus pandemic, from fake donation campaigns for the World Health Organization and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to fraudsters impersonating officials from these agencies who can sell information on active infections for a price, paid with Bitcoin of course.

Now more than ever, cryptocurrency holders need to be wary of crypto scams. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations recently issued a press release in which it warned of the potential increase of cryptocurrency-related fraud schemes during the COVID-19 pandemic, adding:

There are not only numerous virtual asset service providers online but also thousands of cryptocurrency kiosks located throughout the world which are exploited by criminals to facilitate their schemes. Many traditional financial crimes and money laundering schemes are now orchestrated via cryptocurrencies.

Although tough times create a perfect chaotic setting for scammers to operate in, its relieving to know that despite the increased activity and novel coronavirus-related scams, revenue for crypto scammers fell by around 30% in March.

Despite taking on new forms, cryptocurrency scams are almost as old as crypto itself. For example, OneCoin one of the most prominent names when it comes to cryptocurrency-related scams was founded in 2014 and it is still making headlines in crypto media. Although OneCoin has been sued, the lead plaintiff for the ongoing $4 billion class-action suit against the project, Donald Berdeaux, has repeatedly failed to meet the courts monthly status reports, which may lead to the case being dropped.

According to Chainalysis, most of the funds moved by the PlusToken scam were liquidated in two Asian exchanges: Huobi and OKEx. This has raised some concerns about exchanges Know Your Customer practices, which do not seem to have been useful when it came to spotting or censoring the transactions from PlusToken.

Although other sources were used, they were small in comparison to the inflows to the aforementioned exchanges. Grauer stated that Chainalysis had found traces of funds at mining pools, mixers, other scams, and p2p exchanges, but the paths were too small to be interrogated.

If cryptocurrency schemes are to be stopped, exchanges should ideally act as a final barrier for illicit transactions. Responding to past criticism, Huobi is aiming to improve its security measures by launching Star Atlas, an on-chain monitoring tool that can identify crimes like fraud, money, laundry and other problematic activities.

Moreover, Huobi is also looking to partner with data providers like Chainalysis and CryptoCompare to build a more transparent and compliant ecosystem, a measure that will surely be essential for institutionalization and regulatory compliance going forward. Ciara Sun, the vice president of global business at Huobi, told Cointelegraph:

While we may be able to identify illicit activities once they reach our exchanges and prevent their outflow, we can't yet prevent illicit transactions that start outside of our platform. However, we believe that collaborative efforts among industry players, including but not limited to information sharing, are the key to success to create a safer friendly ecosystem for the crypto industry to grow.

While efforts to reduce illicit transactions are being undertaken by exchanges such as Huobi and Paxful, users should always be aware of possible fraud attempts and conduct meaningful diligence into any project they are willing to trust with their coins, as it is unlikely theyll get them back once lost.

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Crypto Scams on the Rise and Can Still Affect Bitcoins Price - Cointelegraph

With Bitcoin halving set to take place on May 12 and 22 days left, institutional investors are catching the fever and cant help taking advantage of the crypto assets huge opportunities.

Bitcoin halving has become the internet new order, with its searches scaling by the day. With a lot of anticipation leaning on a possible bull rally, institutional investors are rushing to claim a share of the pie. The block halving event is scheduled to take place on May 12, 2020, whereby the Bitcoin mining reward to miners will be slashed by half from the current 12.5 BTC/ 10 mins.

Bitcoin halving is a major event that signifies the decline in BTC supply from miners to the market. It has happened two other times, 2012 and 2016, after completing 210,000 blocks before the next event. Bitcoin is mined with the knowledge of finite end in its supply, whereby it is meant to reach 21,000,000 coins at the end of the last block, approximately 2140.

The 2020 halving event has several additional factors than previous events in the past. First, the advanced technology in the mining devices has affected the miners profit margin, and secondly, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has made the factors more complex for the crypto asset industry.

However, the Tradeblock platform has critically analyzed the previous halving events and given their prediction on the oncoming may event. Their analysis has been favored by the increased institutional investors eyeing to take advantage of the pre and post halving volatility.

According to Tradeblocks analysis, the Bitcoin price rose prior to each event, hence allowing miners to maintain healthy profits. The analysis also noted that the miners profits were slashed by half after the event. The Bitcoin hash rate in the previous events did not experience a dramatic uptick, as the miners were bagging home considerable profit margins.

The report went ahead to use the previous years analysis to predict the possible scenarios as we approach the halving event and the aftermath. The report estimated that miners are currently breaking even at approximately $7,300 per coin, despite the market price playing around $7,000.

Following the 2020 halving, the report suggests that the mining breakeven will rise to between $12,000 and $15,100 per coin. These figures used the assumption that the hash rate will stay unchanged or rise following a modest growth rate.

With all factors pointing towards price breakout to a possible new all-time high, institutional investors are moving fast to invest in both the crypto asset and also its future contracts.

One of the notable institutional investors is the Renaissance, through its Medallion Fund, whereby it has selected the CME cash-settled Bitcoin futures. Another notable firm is Grayscale Investments, which experienced a record inflow into its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust of more than $338. Million

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Bitcoin Halving Is Just 22 Days Away and Catches Institutional Investors... - Coinspeaker

A startup has launched a leveraged token and a decentralized stablecoin on Rootstock (RIF), a smart contract solution based on Bitcoin (BTC)s blockchain.

According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph on April 21, Bitcoin-based decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol MoneyOnChain launched the new products on RSKs sidechain.

The new DeFi platform, dubbed RIF on Chain will feature RIF Dollar (RDOC), RIFX and RIFpro (RPRO). RPRO is a token that mirrors the price of RIF but also grants passive income by collecting a share of the fees generated by platform transactions.

RDOC is pegged to the United States dollar and backed by RIF tokens. Unlike competing Ether (ETH)-backed decentralized stablecoin DAI, RID Dollars can be acquired directly by spending RIF without creating a collateralized debt position.

The RDOC stablecoin is minted every time there is a certain amount of RIFpro staked on the platform. Lastly, RIFX is a token that gives exposure to RIFs price fluctuations with leverage. Diego Gutierrez Zaldivar, CEO of IOV Labs the firm behind Rootstock explained:

RIFX is a RIF leveraged decentralized long position. Based on an automated smart contract that renews every 30 days, the product has a leverage factor of 2X at the very beginning of its lifespan and a variable leverage afterwards based upon certain variables such as the price of RIF token and the amount of RDOC stablecoins in the ROC platform. Users must be aware of the risks. [...] The ROC platform, in this current version, does not have a Margin Call notification.

Zaldivar pointed out that RIF is merge-mined with BTC and leverages Bitcoins blockchain for security. He also explained that Bitcoin as an asset is integrated into the system and its role will be expanded in the future:

Bitcoins are locked on-chain and RBTC tokens are minted on the RSK network accordingly. RBTC (and thereby BTC) will serve as collateral for loans, as a pegging mechanism for RIF Dollar and more.

As Cointelegraph reported in March, lead developer at blockchain firm Kava Labs Ruaridh ODonnell pointed out that there is great anticipation for the development of Bitcoins DeFi ecosystem. When it comes to the broader DeFi space, it is seeing great developments at an astonishingly fast rate.

As Cointelegraph reported earlier today, Ethereum-based DeFi protocol Synthetix recently enabled tokenized real-world assets like Brent oil and the Nikkei stock index. The CEO of blockchain firm Trustology recently said that he believes DeFi protocols could soon emerge as the worlds dominant liquidity pool if scaled effectively.

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Bitcoin Smart Contract Solution RSK Sees New Stablecoin and Leveraged Token - Cointelegraph

While WTI crude oil futures went into negative territory in an unprecedented market crash, Bitcoin remained relatively stable. The first digital coin lost about 4.5% of its value in the recent 24 hours and retreated below $7,000 amid worsened sentiments on the global markets, but the general trend remains bullish.

The May WTI dropped 300% to -$40 per barrel, which is a historical event. It means that at a certain point the sellers of oil futures were ready to pay the buyers. However, the May contract expires today. Thus, the June WTI will become the next active contract, which is also down 19.5% from Friday's (April 17) close.

Maybe it's time for some self-reflection for those that say #Bitcoin is too volatile compared to other assets. Crude #oil, the world's most traded commodity, fell ~40% this morning and lost 85% YTD in 2020. Oil in Canada is trading at negative prices. The data speaks for itself! -@gaborgurbacs

The collapse reflects the fragile state of the global economy and a damaging outcome of the oil price war between Russian and OPEC launched in March.

Despite the retreat below, BTC/USD is still in good shape at least as long as it stays above $6,600-$6,500 area, created by 23.6% Fibo retracement for the downside move from February 2020 high. This area stopped the decline at the beginning of April and may serve as a turning point if the sell-off from the current levels gains traction. However, if this support area gives way, the sell-off may be extended towards psychological $6,000 and weekly SMA200 at $5,700.

On the upside, a sustainable move above $7,000 is needed for the upside to gain traction. The psychological barrier is reinforced by weekly SMA100; however, once it is cleared, the upside may be extended towards the next resistance created by 38.2% Fibo retracement for the downside move from February 2020 high at $7,150.

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Bitcoin Price Analysis: BTC/USD resilient in the face of dramatic oil collapse into the negative territory - FXStreet

Welcome to Hard Fork Basics, a collection of informative guides to keep you up to date with the personal finance and investment world. This one is Bitcoin-themed.

Theres a sextortionemail scam going around that demands Bitcoin BTC to keep steamy videos of you masturbating to pornography off the internet. Its fake. Relax.

Its also very old. While there aremany variants, recent reports show anemail that suggests a crafty hacker has placed malware on the porn website that you enjoy, which allowed them to record your screen and webcam feed.

The email then requests $1,900 worth of Bitcoin or else your Messenger, Facebook, and email contacts will receive a video of you jerking (or jilling) it, placed artfully alongside your kinky content of choice a shoddy attempt at blackmail.

Its a preposterous premise, but the real hook is a recipients actual password, which is starred out in the screenshot below.Hard Fork reported on some of the first instances of the Bitcoin sextortion email in 2018.

Back then, fraudsters were warning their marks that a magic pixel had recorded their every move. More recently, emails have come with an embedded JPG image of the blackmail message in a bid to avoid spam detection.

Indeed, if you receive this email, its likely to reference a password that you might regularly use, or may have regularly used in the past. Dont freak out: They probably found it in a PasteBin doc not by hacking your machine.

Its almost entirely likely that the phishers obtained your email and password from one of the thousands of data breaches that have occurred, and not by hacking your computer (or your porn website, for that matter).

Have I Been Pwned?is a handy tool to figure out where they mightve found your password. Simply plug in your email address to see if this relates to you.

Bitcoin Abuse,a websitethat tracks these kinds of Bitcoin scams, has fielded almost 50,000 reports this year. April has seen amassive influx of submissions over 41,000 and while not all of them are specific to the sextortion scam, many are, and theyre coming in multiple languages.

As for the success of these horny phishers: It seems they randomly generate fresh Bitcoin addresses for each recipient, which makes tracking them significantly harder.

So, security researchers at Sophos advise you to do two things. First: Delete the email and move on.

The second is change the password referenced in the email, as its likely that other phishers also have access to it. Even if theyre old accounts, you should change them to protect your current ones.

Apart from that, its important to never send any money in response to any emails like these, Bitcoin or otherwise, and not to play into to the fraudsters hands by engaging any further.

They also emphasised that instructions in an email should not be followed just because the message is insistent or because youre frightened.

In other words,do what this 84-year-old lady did when she was targeted by Bitcoin sextortionists: Ignore them, and eat a bagel.

Published April 20, 2020 16:12 UTC

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So you received the Bitcoin masturbation vid email heres what to do - The Next Web

Bitcoin commenced the weeks trading in the positive territory after defending support above $7,200. Last weeks surge above $7,000 was the second after Bitcoin crashed more than 50% in March amid a widespread COVID-19 triggered selloff. At the moment, Bitcoin is trading over 85% higher from the lows trade in March. The gains last week were reminiscent of the upward correction in the United States stock market. Bitcoin has lately become more and more correlated with the stock market and other traditional asset. A situation that has had people questioning Bitcoins safe haven status.

According to Qiao Wang from Messari, a cryptocurrency analysis firm, said that cryptocurrency markets and the traditional stock markets are in anticipation as the Federal Reserve prepares to stimulate the economy from the shocks of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Short-term, as usual, I dont have a strong view, wrote Mr. Wang about the cryptocurrency. I think it could easily swing between $5,000 and $9,000 due to a variety of forces like the demand for the USD and the hype around halving.

As reported, Bitcoins step above the 50-day SMA has renewed the bullish interest and a lift-off towards $9,000 seems imminent. Looking at the price performance in the last 12 months, Bitcoin soared 280% after breaking above the moving average in April 2020 and 43% after a similar move in February 2020. However, a resistance at $7,200 must be overcome in order to open the way for the lift-off. This zone was a key support in May 2019 and could act the same in the current situation following a breakout.

Resistance one: $7,220 Highlights the pivot one-day resistance one.

Resistance two: $7,369 Highlights the pivot one-week resistance one, and the pivot point one-day resistance two.

Resistance three: 8,116 Home to the SMA 100 one-day and the pivot point one-week resistance three.

Support one: $7,145 Converges the Fibo 23.6% one-day, the Bollinger band 4-hour middle curve and the SMA five 4-hour.

Support two: $7,070 Hosts the SMA 50 4-hour and the SMA 200 1-hour.

Support three: $6,996 Highlights the Fibo 38.2% one-week, pivot point one-day support two and the BB 1-day middle curve.

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Bitcoin Price Prediction: BTC/USD lift-off to $9,000 in the Q2 of 2020 imminent Confluence Detector - FXStreet

Despite being over a decade old, Bitcoin (BTC) is still not particularly easy to understand. Even major BTC bulls like Tim Draper have admitted that Bitcoin still lacks ease of use for mainstream adoption.

In the same vein, two key figures in the community held an informal Twitter debate over Bitcoins complexity today.

Mark Cuban, one of the most well-known Bitcoin sceptics, prefers to own bananas than invest in bitcoins. Cuban previously criticized Bitcoins complexity in an interview with Anthony Pomp Pompliano on April 15. In the interview, the owner of the NBAs Dallas Mavericks reiterated a common Bitcoin complexity narrative, arguing that Bitcoin needs to be easy enough that grandma can use it before mass adoption will occur.

When asked about what would have to happen for him to change his mind about Bitcoin, Cuban answered that it should become easy, elaborating on Bitcoins complexities:

Itd have to be so easy to use, its a no-brainer. Itd have to be completely friction-free and understandable by everybody first. [...] Theres so many peculiarities to Bitcoin: the halving, the mining.

While some in the crypto community agreed that BTC is quite difficult to use, Tyler Winklevoss, a co-founder of major crypto exchange Gemini, decided to weigh in. Winklevoss argued that, for someone without preexisting knowledge of the game, basketball is at least as peculiar as Bitcoin. He tweeted:

Theres so many peculiarities to Bitcoin: the halving, the mining." - @mcuban The rules of basketball are far more peculiar, but that doesn't seem to be holding it back.

It was not long before Cuban reacted to the Winklevoss remark, tweeting the following counter-argument in less than 10 minutes:

One was started by a guy named James in a gym with a peach basket and a ball to entertain kids. The other was started by a guy no one can find, that hundreds claim to be, with a computer and an algorithm to give millions something to argue about. Which is simple?

Winklevoss subsequently argued that both of these origin stories are interesting from a historical perspective,. He then firing out another argument, hinting that nobody really cares about basketball:

My bet is that if you took a poll of all the basketball fans that buy tickets to watch @dallasm games, less than 1% would know that the game they are watching was started by a guy named James trying to entertain kids and 0% would actually care.

After years of scepticism, Cuban delivered a mixed message about Bitcoin in late 2019. As Cointelegraph reported in December, Cuban admitted that Bitcoin could become a reliable financial instrument.

In September 2019, billionaire investor and major Bitcoin bull, Tim Draper, declared that people still prefer fiat money over Bitcoin. He reasoned that fiat money seems to be an easier option to pay for services. According to Draper, Bitcoins inherent difficulty is the main impediment to mass adoption. He further claimed that engineers have not made it that easy enough for everyone to use Bitcoin.

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Mark Cuban and Tyler Winklevoss Squabble Over Bitcoin Complexity - Cointelegraph

Bitcoins halving is just three weeks away at this point, and with the critically important event happening so soon, the first-ever crypto asset is at an especially pivotal junction that could shape the future of the asset in the near and long term.

But what exactly does the halving mean, and why is it that crypto investors expect the event to be so shockingly bullish? Were taking a look at past halving cycles and providing various scenarios as to the final outcome of the event coming in just 21 days.

Bitcoin is the first of its kind and kicked off the cryptocurrency craze that has now led to thousands upon thousands of altcoins and billions of dollars in market cap.

However, it wasnt the first attempt at creating a digital form of cash. Instead, Satoshi Nakamoto took early concepts designed by other cypherpunks and solved the most critical issue plaguing these other pioneer projects: double-spending.

Related Reading | Bitcoin Mining Sell Pressure Waning, Supply Shock To Drive Massive Price Increase

The only way previously to prevent double-spending, was by having a third-party or central authority validating transactions. Bitcoin does this without the need for a central authority through a process called proof-of-work, or Bitcoin mining.

The process involves hi-tech machinery designed to squeeze out as much has hash power at as low cost as possible, using it to solve complex mathematical equations. The miner or mining pool to solve all equations unlocks a reward of 12.5 BTC currently.

In three weeks, that drops to just 6.25 BTC. There are 31 of these pre-coded halvings set to reduce the Bitcoin supply at regular intervals until the full supply is in circulation.

Each halving in the past has kicked off a monstrous bull run. The idea is that the BTC supply miners receive gets slashed in half, raising production costs immediately. Miners halt selling at a loss, and it throws off the delicate balance of supply and demand.

This fact has had crypto investors considering the event to be incredibly bullish. And each time in the past, Bitcoin price rose exponentially following the event.

In just three weeks, this same event happens once again, but the once highly anticipated event thought to be incredibly bullish, has done little to cause prices to rise in advance of what is expected to be the most important factor in causing Bitcoin price to rise.

Sentiment is in the gutter following last months record-breaking collapse that took the price of the leading cryptocurrency by market cap to under $4,000 at the low. The coronavirus pandemic has caused investors to be too fearful to take a risk with the cryptocurrency market, even with Bitcoins halving so close.

Related Reading | Bitcoin Shows Ideal Set Up For Epic Rally: Stock-to-Flow and Oversold RSI

If the bullish explosion that was once expected does play out, many of Bitcoins biggest supporters may miss out on the opportunity they spent the last four years waiting for.

And if it doesnt, well, the recession may send Bitcoin into its first real bear market in the assets history.

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Crypto Countdown: Exactly Three Weeks Remain Until The Bitcoin Halving - newsBTC

The coronavirus outbreak is no longer a new thing. Even illiterate grandmothers in my village know about the strange illness that is jumping from one country to another, as some of them put it. When the year started and the epidemic was just beginning to take hold in Europe and a few other countries, markets began to feel the effect. However, Bitcoin and some of the major cryptocurrencies started to see great demand, leading to great price increase. For instance, the BTCUSD pair saw its price jump above the $9,000 for the first time in several months. Many experts began to tout Bitcoin as a safe-haven asset. However, it did not take long for Bitcoins newly acquired safe-haven status to fall apart. Last week, Bitcoin sold off nearly half of its value in less than one hour in a bloody day for the cryptocurrency market.

Many of the experts and gurus who touted Bitcoin as the next big safe-haven asset after gold were confused. What really happened? How come the coronavirus-driven market fears were able to substantially crush Bitcoin to the extent to which it fell?

To answer the question, it is pertinent to define what a safe-haven asset is and then fit Bitcoin into the mold to see whether it can qualify to be known as a safe-haven asset.

What is a Safe Haven Asset?

Safe-haven assets are assets which are a store of value, and help protect investments from being wiped off by a market meltdown or by inflation. Safe-haven assets are therefore used to protect assets in times of economic downturn or to hedge against negative market exposures.

During periods of economic downturn or market upheaval, the focus of most experienced investors is to first preserve the value of whatever investments they have. Profiting from such investments, or capital appreciation is usually a secondary consideration. That is why such safe-haven assets are also called risk-off assets. They are in vogue at a time when traders are not willing to take risks. As you may know by now, reward in the markets is usually obtained by subjecting capital to risk. Occasionally additional risk might be worth taking, if you do not want to, however, take any, it is possible go for a Bitcoin demo account on which you can learn how much the coronavirus outbreak is affecting the price of Bitcoin, risk-free.

For an asset to be classified as a safe-haven asset, it must have the following attributes:

It is not easy to find a commodity or asset that has all these attributes. Traders generally have to make a choice as to which asset can present most, if not all of the characteristics that have been mentioned. In a world where new assets and derivative instruments are being created every year, it is becoming harder to sift out the true safe-haven assets from the ones that have pseudo status.

Bitcoin saw a meteoric rise from a price of just a few cents when it was created in 2009 to tens of thousands of dollars per coin at its peak. But certain events that punctuate this time period bring into question its perceived status as a safe-haven asset.

Does Bitcoin Qualify to be a Safe-Haven Asset?

As the world battles the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak with global stock and commodity markets all but battered, can we really say that Bitcoin is a safe-haven asset?Let us subject it to scrutiny using the parameters described above.

Also, Bitcoins value cannot be preserved over time. Newer cryptocurrencies are being released that have better use case applications. It is doubtful if Bitcoin will continue to retain the top spot in market capitalization in say, a decade from now.

So is Bitcoin a safe-haven asset?Is Bitcoin an acceptableand universal store of value? Can it hold its own in the face of market pressures or downside risks? That question seems to have been comprehensively answered in this article. It is not a safe-haven asset and so should not be treated as such. If circumstances emerge and cause a systemic disruption to the markets, Bitcoin is just as vulnerable to these as any other asset.

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If Bitcoin is a Safe Haven, Why is it down during the Coronavirus outbreak? - Cryptopolitan