Several notable Dapps are also currently being built on the Metacoin platform such as:

Jay Baek, V.P. of INBLOCK said, "We're excited about the listing of Metacoin on Liquid. As one of the largest, most secure and reputable exchanges globally, Liquid will offer best-in-class security to anyone looking to trade and hold MTC. More importantly, being listed on a major exchange is aligned with our mission of creating new value through collaborations with other companies and business support."

Metacoin aims to solve two fundamental issues in blockchain technology -- scalability and security -- by implementing its node into LinuxONE. By doing so, Metacoin is not only able to further secure and protect users' data but handle millions of transactions per second in a safe and secure manner.

"We are delighted to be the first global cryptocurrency exchange to add Metacoin to our offering of digital assets on Liquid, and also be the first exchange to be able to support projects built on Hyperledger," said Mike Kayamori, CEO and co-founder of Liquid. "The ability to support Hyperledger-based projects is certainly an important step towards our mission of providing liquidity to the crypto economy."

Hyperledger is an open source collaborative effort created to advance cross-industry blockchain technologies. Hosted by the Linux Foundation, it is a global collaboration that includes leaders in finance, banking, Internet of Things, supply chains, manufacturing and Technology. Hyperledger Fabric currently supports distributed ledger solutions for a wide range of industries and maximises the confidentiality, resilience and flexibility of blockchain solutions through its modular architecture.

To celebrate the listing of Metacoin on Liquid, the Liquid and Metacoin teams have decided to provide a 1% bonus for anyone who deposits more than 1,000 MTC and a 3% bonus for anyone who deposits more than 30,000 MTC on Liquid. Liquid and Metacoin will also host a Trading Competition that rewards 1,000 MTC to the top 100 users in trading volume at the end of the campaign. More details will be shared soon. For the latest updates, follow Liquid on Twitter at @liquid_global

About Metacoin

Established in 2017, Metacoin, the first cryptocurrency based on Hyperledger, launched its mainnet in October 2018. Designed to be a permissioned network, Metacoin, with the use of Hyperledger's technology, is also a public blockchain that openly allows the sharing of transaction histories. Metacoin aims to expand the Metacoin Ecosystem through solving and improving problems that exists in traditional cryptocurrency.

Today, through the use of the open-source based Hyperledger fabric and by installing the Hyperledger nodes into LinuxONE, Metacoin ensures reliability and grow blockchain business models. Through the implementation of IBM's Secure Service Container (SSC) on LinuxONE, Metacoin aims to create a successful blockchain ecosystem and will offer secure management of digital assets and allow the development of chain-codes. More information is available at https://metacoin.network/.

About Liquid

Founded in 2014, we are a leading global fintech company that operates Liquid.com ("Liquid"), a global cryptocurrency platform that provides trading, exchange, and next generation financial services powered by blockchain technology. With offices in Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, and in the future, the USA, Liquid combines a strong network of local partners with extensive team experience in banking and financial products to deliver best in class financial services for its customers.

Today, Liquid is the world's largest crypto-fiat platform by transaction volume, regulated in Japan. Powered by the World Book, which provides customers enhanced price matching and deeper liquidity for various fiat and cryptocurrency pairs, Liquid offers trading services for major cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum against fiat currency pairs in Japanese yen, US, Singapore and Australian dollars, and euro. More information is available at Liquid.com.

SOURCE Liquid.com

http://liquid.com

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Hyperledger-based token Metacoin to list on its first global cryptocurrency exchange, Liquid - PRNewswire

US President Donald Trump has hosted an unscheduled meeting with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell as of Monday. Despite claiming to have discussed everything, cryptocurrency appears to have been left entirely off the agenda.

President Trump tweeted about the impromptu meeting with Powell earlier today. He claims the pair talked about interest rates, negative interest, low inflation, easing, dollar strength and its effect on manufacturing, trade with China, EU, and others.

According to The Street, the Federal Reserve issued a statement following the meeting. In it, the institution claims that Powells comments to Trump were consistent with his remarks at his congressional hearings last week. The Federal Reserve wrote:

Chair Powell said that he and his colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee will set monetary policy, as required by law, to support maximum employment and stable prices and will make those decisions based solely on careful, objective and non-political analysis.

Despite China being one of the topics of conversation during the meeting, and the nation having recently endorsed blockchain technology along with being known to be exploring the launch of its own digital asset, cryptocurrency appears to have been completely absent from todays conversation. This is somewhat more surprising given the growing numbers of US central bankers advocating for a state-backed digital currency for use in the nation. BeInCrypto reported on how Facebooks Libra has brought the issue back into the minds of Federal bankers last month.

Whereas China appears to be pushing hard for the formation of a fully digital economy, the USA risks being left behind if it continues to drag its feet in terms of both regulation and the adoption of cutting-edge technologies like blockchain.

That said, it does not come as much of a surprise to see Donald Trump not bringing up the impact digital currency could have on the US and global economy with Powell. After all, he famously dismissed all of cryptocurrency as inferior to the dollar and simply a means for orchestrating criminal activity. Earlier this year BeInCrypto reported on him tweeting the following:

Likewise, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who was also present at todays meeting, called digital currencies a potential threat to national security. Both made their comments shortly after Facebook detailed its own digital asset, Libra earlier this year.

Although not expressly clamping down on blockchain innovation and digital currency use, the US government is nowhere near as proactive as China has been in recent weeks in promoting the use of the technology. At the end of last month, Chinese premier Xi Jinping publicly encouraged the nation to adopt distributed ledger technology and all manner of different Chinese blockchain initiatives are now coming to light.

Images are courtesy of Twitter, Shutterstock.

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Everything Discussed in Trump and Fed Meeting (Except Cryptocurrency) - BeInCrypto

The privacy-centric cryptocurrency ZClassic (ZCL), a fork of the Zcash coin, rose 60%, over the weekend, peaking at $0.45.

Bullish momentum is associated with the marketing move proposed by cryptocurrency creator Rhett Creighton. He gave out 1000 ZCLs to ten followers on Twitter, asking them to send 10 ZCLs to 50 other people.

That's what he posted on his Twitter account

I think we need to put more ZCL in the hands of people who understand Crypto. I'm going to send 1000 ZCL Each to 10 people below

1. Post a QR code2. Promise to send 10 ZCL to 50 OTHERS#800cc

ZClassic price jumps did not pass without a trace. According to the 2CryptoCalc calculator, the coin came out on top in terms of mining profitability, later dropping a line below.

At the same time, ZClassic demonstrated rather modest trading volumes of about $10,330. Now the cryptocurrency exchange rate has rolled back to $0.25.

Notably, at the end of September an error was discovered in all Zcash implementations, including the ZClassic fork. The error allowed to reveal the IP address of the full node that onwed the protected address (zaddr).

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ZClassic became the most profitable cryptocurrency for a fraction of time - FXStreet

BOSTON Twomen from Massachusetts were arrested and charged in Boston federal court Thursday in an elaboratescheme to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars fromcryptocurrency executives and others that included taking over their social media accounts and threats to their families.

Federal prosecutors say Eric Meiggs, 21, of Brockton,and Declan Harrington, 20, of Rockport,usedcell phone SIM-card swapping and computer hacking to targetonline accounts ofat least 10 individuals with large amounts of cryptocurrency. The victims included the heads of cryptocurrency companies.

The two defendants stole or attempted to steal more than $550,000 in cryptocurrency, according to prosecutors, and gainedaccess into two victims' "OG" (original gangster) accounts with social media companies. They were unsuccessful in stealing from some of the victims.

Trump on cryptocurrency and Bitcoin: 'I am not a fan'

Meiggs and Harrington, whose alleged actions spanned multiple years,were charged in an 11-count indictment and arraigned Thursday. Each face one count of conspiracy, eight counts of wire fraud, one count of computer fraud and abuse, and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Cryptocurrency refers to digital currency, includingBitcoin, that does not rely on a central bank but instead transactions from user to user.

Prosecutors allege the two men engaged in"SIM swapping," which occurs when cybercriminals convince a cell phoneservice provider to reassign the phone number of another individual's SIM card, located inside their phone, to a phone controlled by them.

Itallowed them to pose as thevictim torequest that social media providers send them password-rest links or an authentication code to their newly controlledphone numbers.

In one instance, according to the indictment, the defendants in March2018gained access to one victim's Facebook and Gmail accounts. They then sent messages to the victim's contacts, convincing one of them to send $100,000 in cryptocurrency.

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Weeks later, the defendants accessed another victim's LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook accounts, as well as accounts at online cryptocurrency exchanges, allowing them to steal $10,000 in cryptocurrency, the indictment says. The defendants contacted the wife of the victim, prosecutors say, and sent a text message to his daughter saying, "TELL YOUR DAD TO GIVE US BITCOIN."

Bitcoin bandits: Hackers steal equivalent of $40M from Binance

In November and December of 2015, prosecutors say Meiggs sent a series of Twitter messages to another victim seeking control of the victim's Instagram account, which was an "OG" account name. Prosecutors say Meiggs indicated he knew where the victim lived and sent the address and name of the victim's mother with the message: "Just give up."

The indictment does not identify the victims or name their companies. Five are residents of California. Others live in New Jersey, Illinois, Nevada, Michigan and Arizona.

Reach Joey Garrison and on Twitter @joeygarrison.

How the scammers behind the biggest cryptocurrency hack in the world pulled it off Time

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2 men arrested in elaborate plot to steal $550K in cryptocurrency by hacking social media accounts - USA TODAY

While the crypto market continues to stall, some analysts are betting on institutions to carry the next bull cycle, opposed to casual traders who snowballed the BTC price in 2017. Indeed, the Wild West days of crypto, accompanied by thousands of cash-grabbing, fraudulent ICOs seem to be coming to a close compliance is the general trend now. World-known corporations and banks like Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) and JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) have entered the space, and, in order to save their reputation, they intend to play by the rules only those rules have to be established first.

Crypto Derivatives: A Traditional Tool to Help the Market Grow

Thats where traditional markets could inspire crypto actors. Thus, the industry has started to push towards financial mainstream, and first results are already in. One of them is crypto derivatives, a niche version of the time-tested trading tool. Indeed, derivatives have proven useful in terms of the stock market, even in the post-crisis conditions: for instance, they expanded U.S. real GDP by about $3.7 billion each quarter over the 2003-2012 period, according to the Milken Institute research.

Equity derivatives for example a class of derivatives whose value is based on the stock of a publicly traded firm is one of the most popular offerings, as it allows people to gamble on the value of publicly traded corporations like Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) and Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), or even a basket of large-cap stocks like FANG, which combines shares of the four high-performing technology stocks in the market.

Coming back to the context of cryptocurrencies, derivatives are financial contracts between two or more parties that derives (hence derivatives) their value from the underlying cryptocurrency. In other words, it is an agreement to buy or sell a particular cryptocurrency at a fixed price and a specified time in the future. Its most popular form BTC futures was introduced on two of the U.S.'s leading and diverse derivatives marketplaces, CME and CBOE, in December 2017, largely de-stigmatizing bitcoin as some marginal asset on the Internet.

Notably, the demand for such products has not only stayed, but grown bigger, too: in fact, June 2019 was the best month for CMEs bitcoin futures volume since its launch. Nearly 300,000 contracts were traded in the 31-day period, marking a 27 percent increase in volume on the month prior and a 73.69 percent increase on March volumes.

Since then, the exchange has applied to the U.S. Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CTFC) for permission to double its open position limit. Its also recently confirmed a January launch date for a new instrument: options on bitcoin futures.

Indeed, crypto derivatives are particularly important for institutions, since they represent a major risk managing technique: specifically, they offer protection from cryptos infamous volatility (a massive red flag for blue-chip investors and corporations). Additionally, they allow traders to offset their potential losses via put options and hedging another essential instrument in the arsenal of institutional traders.

Main Actors in the space: LedgerX, Bakkt, Deribit, BitMEX

Putting out fully-compliant products is a considerably difficult task in the crypto market, given the continued lack of proper regulations. Exchanges attempting to launch new products have met with varying degrees of success. For example, U.S.-regulated clearing platform LedgerX attempted to race ahead of the competition to release a physically-settled bitcoin futures contract over the summer.

Ultimately, it was thwarted by the CTFC, much to the chagrin of the companys CEO. Unlike conventional, cash-based BTC futures, the physically-delivered ones ensure that customers receive actual BTC tokens instead of fiat once the contracts expire.

In contrast to LedgerXs efforts, Bakkt, a major exchange operated by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and supported by a plethora of major companies including Microsoft and Stabucks, has made progress. In September, the company successfully launched its physically-settled bitcoin futures contracts after obtaining the necessary CFTC-issued license required. Since then, it has also announced its planning to launch options on bitcoin futures, ahead of competitor exchange CME.

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Another leading exchange is Deribit, the Amsterdam-headquartered platform which is well-known for being the first true bitcoin options exchange. Currently, its the only exchange to offer the following three kinds of derivatives products at the same time: perpetual, futures and options. In fact, perpetuals derivative products which are similar to futures, but dont have an expiry date are the most popular trading option on the platform.

Deribit is continuously expanding its services: earlier this year, it allowed the public to trade European, vanilla-style ethereum options for the first time in history. Most recently, it has joined forces with Paradigm, the first institutional-grade OTC communication platform, to launch a service for institutional crypto-derivatives traders. Specifically, the new service offers yet another trading feature, the so-called block trades: privately negotiated, principal-to-principal transactions in futures or options that exceed certain minimum quantity thresholds.

Its a game-changer for institutional traders, as it safeguards them from another major crypto-problem, insufficient liquidity. Thus, block trades will allow them to trade in numerous transactions, avoiding slippage and minimizing impact on the market price (block trades are performed outside of the order book).

Deribit and Paradigm. First to offer crypto derivatives block trading for institutions.

Most importantly, Deribits volume has been on a steady rise: in April 2019, even before the major uptrend on the market, its BTC options volume exceeded half a billion dollars in a month. In October, the company showed impressive growth in its Options market.

Analysts from @CryptoCompare released a very comprehensive Exchange Review for September and highlighted Deribit's impressive growth in Options, with volumes surpassing $1B. 🙌https://t.co/m4n9oH5IJ8 pic.twitter.com/MTr0xIuKsF

— Deribit (@DeribitExchange) October 22, 2019

In comparison, the volume of BitMEX another bitcoin derivatives platform and Deribits main competitor has recently slumped as much as 33%, likely due a probe from the CTFC. However, even that didnt stop them from reporting $1 trillion in annual trading volume earlier in July.

Crypto Derivatives Boom Could Arrive Any Moment Now

One thing is clear: crypto derivatives products are currently in large demand, and institutions seem to be the primary customer. Given the fact that institutions have historically had much more leverage compared to retail customers, the next crypto boom could be much more intense than the 2017 one. We're seeing $200-400M a week in new crypto deposits come in from institutional customers, Coinbase CEO has recently tweeted. The institutional money is coming, and it seems that the needed tools will be there ready.

Disclosure: None.

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Is a Cryptocurrency Derivatives Boom On Its Way? - Yahoo Finance