Daily Archives: January 25, 2020

The World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, ended yesterday with a significant mark on the cryptocurrency market. On the last day, WEF announced the first global consortium focused on designing a framework for the governance of digital currencies, including stablecoins.

The World Economic Forum for 2020 took place at Davos the past week, and cryptocurrencies received a lot of attention.Yesterday, during its last day, the Forum announced the creation of the first Global Consortium for Digital Currency Governance. It will consist of financial institutions, government representatives, academics, international organizations, leading companies, technical experts, NGOs, and members of the Forums communities on a global level.

The report indicates that if digital currencies are to receive proper financial inclusion, they need to be paired with good governance. Therefore, the Consortiums purpose will be to establish a framework of regulations by implementing innovative approaches. To achieve their goal, the participants will use efficiency, speed, inter-operability, inclusivity, and transparency.

The Consortium will work with both the public and the private sectors to explore the presented opportunities.

According to Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the WEF, digital currency, a cross-cutting topic that requires input across sectors, functions, and geographies, is a key area of interest for the Forum.

Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, also spoke on the matter:

Governance is the core pillar of any form of digital currency. It is critical that any framework on digital currencies ensures security, efficiency, and legitimacy of payments while ensuring fair and open competition. We welcome the WEFs platform to help develop a robust governance framework for inclusion through digital currencies.

As CryptoPotato recently reported, the efforts of establishing regulations on the cryptocurrency market are getting more and more serious. As of January 10th, the European Union introduced an updated version of its 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD) with increased regulatory focus.

All cryptocurrency-related businesses operating from Europe have to follow the rules. They include a more in-depth Know-Your-Customer process, transaction monitoring, and filing suspicious activity reports (SARs) with law enforcement.

One of the aftermaths came shortly, as the popular exchange Deribit announced its upcoming relocation from the Netherlands to Panama.

With the creation of the Global Consortium, world watchdogs will try to establish a framework of regulations on cryptocurrencies. Its particularly interesting to see whether this will be beneficial for the space as a lot of the market participants remain unregulated.

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Regulating Bitcoin: WEF2020 Announced A Global Consortium For Cryptocurrency Governance - CryptoPotato

Recent research shows that Ether (ETH) was the cryptocurrency most correlated to the rest of the crypto market in 2019.

In a report published on Jan. 22, the research arm of major cryptocurrency exchange Binance suggests that throughout 2019, ETH had an average correlation coefficient of 0.69. The paper, which compared correlation data of 20 top cryptocurrencies, reads:

Ether (ETH) is the highest correlated asset. With an average correlation coefficient of 0.69 throughout 2019, it is consistently among the most correlated assets. The coefficient started at 0.69 in Q1 and rose to 0.72 in Q4 (Q2: 0.65; Q3: 0.74).

Per the report, Ether was much less correlated in the first half of 2019 and became the most correlated in the second half. Interestingly, the paper points out that programmable blockchains such as Ethereum, NEO and EOS often showed higher correlations with each other than with non-programmable assets.

Other crypto assets that have shown a high correlation with the rest of the market include Cardano (ADA), EOS, Litecoin (LTC), XRP and Binance Coin (BNB). Furthermore, the researchers observed that correlation is typically higher among cryptocurrencies with the highest market caps.

Comparison of quarterly average correlation coefficients for the five most correlated assets. Source: Binance

The assets with the lowest correlation to the rest of the market, on the other hand, are Cosmos (ATOM), with a correlation of 0.31, followed by Chainlink (LINK) and Tezos (XTZ) with respective coefficients of 0.32, 0.4. Overall, the median correlation between large cryptocurrencies slightly decreased over the last quarter of 2019

Another interesting phenomenon pointed out by the researchers is the Binance Effect, which refers to the fact that cryptos listed on Binance displayed higher correlations than with the assets not present on the exchange. The firms research also claims that, among the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap, its own crypto asset Binance Coin is the one that has seen the highest returns.

Comparison of quarterly price changes for the ten largest assets by market cap. Source: Binance

While the correlation between crypto assets has been widely observed, the correlation between Bitcoin (BTC) and traditional assets especially gold is still subject to debate. Nonetheless, new data suggests that BTC is less correlated to gold than many believe it to be.

In the past, some also observed that Bitcoin had an inverse correlation to the stock market. As Cointelegraph explained in a market analysis piece at the end of October 2019, at the time this trend broke.

Read more:
Research: Ether Was the Cryptocurrency Most Correlated to Other Coins in 2019 - Cointelegraph

Your favorite altcoins path to becoming the next Bitcoin is a lot more treacherous than you think.

The CEO of uPlexa (UPX) told CCN.com about the financial and ethical minefield faced by upstart altcoin projects in the cryptocurrency industry. Kyle Pierce the projects co-founder and lead developer paints a miserable picture of an industry that may already have been taken over by its worst people.

The king-making ability of centralized exchanges is no secret. The CEO of DigiByte (DGB) claims he was asked for $300,000, plus 3% of his 58th ranked altcoins entire coin supply, to get listed on Binance.

The demands made of the 1,371st-ranked uPlexa were equally outrageous. According to Pierce:

Weve had offers for 50% of the premine to get listed on an exchange. 50% of our premine thats allocated to exchange listings, marketing, hiring, founding team, core members, security audits, etc. They somehow believe that one hour of their time is worth nearly 6,000+ of our current man hours into this project.

Pierce says the saturation of centralized exchanges is making matters worse. Over 1,500 exchanges now compete for the same territory. As that number increases, the desperation of each rises accordingly.

Theres 1500+ centralized exchanges that offer the exact same service, and theyre starting to lose volume. So they artificially boost the volume and hire VAs to go around soliciting every team member of every project in hopes to quickly make a quick buck before their watering hole dries up.

These exchanges have become a choke-point for the cryptocurrency industry. The only way to get listed is to play their game. That means new cryptocurrency projects have their development plans dictated to them before theyve even begun.

For projects who did not participate in the IEO/ICO stages and have no funding, it is nearly impossible to get listed on an exchange. So, firstly, not only are people predominantly trading on centralized exchanges in a decentralized area, but the exchanges that are making huge sums of money are killing off the potential for real-world technologies to get noticed/adopted.

Another exchange told Pierce they would be happy to list his project, if only they moved away from the whole privacy thing.

Pierce told us that when uPlexa finally got listed on its first exchange (for around 1 BTC), even more scammers emerged from the woodwork. Pierce says he was contacted by someone asking to buy 20 BTC worth of UPX over-the-counter for 30% less than its market price.

The stated plan was to become invested in the coin, and then get behind its marketing efforts for their own benefit and that of the community. Pierce was suspicious, but he directed the buyer towards a miner with large UPX holdings.

After promoting the coin for two days and then moving on, Pierce realized the buyer was basically a pump and dump artist, who buys coins at a markdown then sells them for profit.

At this time, I had pretty much told them to f*ck off with their pump & dump scheme after reading about other groups who participated in major supression of other coins and then trying to sell to their group of investors who they make calls to on a daily basis.

According to Pierce, these solicitations are not uncommon. In fact, he thinks the cryptocurrency industry is largely dominated by these market manipulators.

Most of the time, when you see people talking about cryptos, its because they already got their bag at a cheap price and are looking to unload their bag at a quick 2x profit on you. Investors come into the market looking to make 5-10x (which, yes, may be unreasonable in most circumstances), only to be eaten alive by these types of manipulators.

Pierce states that even cryptocurrency influencers are twisting the screw as hard as they possibly can. When reaching out to Twitter and YouTube content creators, he found that every one demanded close to half a Bitcoin just to talk about uPlexa.

Every single one expected to be paid anywhere from 0.35-5BTC to talk about our technology. It became very clear to me at that moment, that 99% of all media regarding cryptocurrencies is paid by projects with massive amounts of funding. Little to nothing in the crypto world is organic.

Almost every service imaginable seems to be hidden behind a paywall in the cryptocurrency world. Even those which are free, such as CoinMarketCap listings.

we had a flock of different users advertising new services to us: CMC listings (even though this is free), exchange listings, supposed market making services, and even dumping strategies. One user even went so far to say they could help us sell our entire premine on the exchanges without market selling, which was obviously not in our interest.

Every service offered by exchanges comes at a cost. If an update is required, they charge 0.25 Bitcoin. If you want a new trading pair added, it costs another quarter of a Bitcoin. Thats despite the widespread use of modern technologies that make these services a five-minute job.

Pierce says he does see the industry changing over time, and his outlook for the future remains optimistic. But in the meantime, he says centralized exchanges will continue to reign as the banks of the crypto world.

I want to see everybody have a chance at succeeding and for ground-breaking technologies to run wild. Instead, centralised exchanges have become the new banks of the crypto world, and are just as greedy and corrupt. If youre not partnered up at the top 1% with them, its going to be a very long journey for your project.

Disclaimer: The opinions in this article do not represent investment or trading advice from CCN.com.

This article was edited by Josiah Wilmoth.

Last modified: January 22, 2020 2:53 PM UTC

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The Dark Side of Becoming the Next Bitcoin - CCN.com

The bull rally that has been praised immensely this January appears have died and passed on the mantle to the bears who want nothing but to wreak havoc in the cryptocurrency market. The market generally painted and interestingly, the biggest gainers last week are recording the biggest losses of the day. For instance, Bitcoin Gold is correcting lower 4.85%, Dash is down 4.18% and Ethereum Classic is teetering 3.58% lower on the day.

Read more:Ethereum Classic Price Analysis: ETH/USD bears flip the bulls, target shifts to $5

Bitcoin is undergoing a pullback from the recent $9,200 high. The reversal is taking place after an incredible performance since the beginning of January. Bitcoin extended the gains from last Decembers recovery from $6,500. The bulls nurtured the gains above several resistance zones including $7,700, $8,000, $8,400, $8,800 and $9,000.

However, it is apparent that a reversal mission is underway and Bitcoin could soon touch $8,000 if the support at $8,300 fails to hold. The largest cryptocurrency has a market value of $8,300, although an intraday high of $8,399 has been traded on Friday.

Looking at the hourly chart, Bitcoin price is holding onto thelower trend line of a falling wedge pattern. If the shallow recovery above the trendline continues, a breakout seems imminent above the patterns resistance. For now, $8,400 is the stubborn zone ahead of the resistances at $8,500, $8,800 and $9,200.

Ethereum has finally forced its way through the support at $160. The failed attempt to break above $165 yesterday, paved the way for a bearish action that is becoming too strong to stop. At the time of writing, ETH is trading at $158, which is 2.30% lower compared to the opening value of $162.50. Thehigh volatility and increasing growing bearish trend signal that a dive to $150 is possible in the near term.

Also read:Ethereum Price Analysis: ETH/USD balances at the edge of the $160 cliff

The third-largest cryptocurrency on the market has not escaped the bearish wave. Its price is dancing at $0.2216 after shedding 1.6% of the tokens value on the day. On the brighter side, the bulls managed to retake the support at $0.2200 after dropping to an intraday low of $0.2174. To avert possible declines to $0.20, XRP must scale the levels above $0.23 and focus on the resistance at $0.24.

Also read:Ripple Price Analysis: XRP/USD struggles to save triangle support at its peak

Link:
Cryptocurrency Market Update: Bitcoin, Ripple and Ethereum dive into the rabbit holes - FXStreet

The Bank of England will examine how Britain could adopt a bitcoin-style digital currency as part of a global group of central banks that have joined together to examine the possible pitfalls of relying on electronic money.

Bank officials will meet with the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank (ECB), the Sveriges Riksbank, the Bank of Canada, the Swiss National Bank and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) to pool research and experiences of the potential for a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

The BoE deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe will co-chair the group with Benoit Cure, a former ECB board member and head of the BIS innovation hub.

The move comes amid the emergence of private sector digital currencies, such as bitcoin and Facebooks libra, which is due to be launched this year.

Facebooks plans for its libra coin and a digital wallet have caught the attention of regulators and central banks worldwide, with Threadneedle Street being among those vowing tough new rules.

The BoE was among several central banks to warn that libra would need to be regulated, leading many supporters to end their relationship with the digital currency.

The idea of a central bank digital currency has been increasingly mooted worldwide to help improve payment systems and cross-border transactions.

The Bank said the new working group would look at CBDC use cases; economic, functional and technical design choices, including cross-border interoperability; and the sharing of knowledge on emerging technologies.

It will also work closely with other global forums and groups, such as the Financial Stability Board and the committee on payments and market infrastructures (CPMI), which is also chaired by Cunliffe.

Just last month, Swedens central bank said it would sign a deal with the consultancy firm Accenture to create a pilot platform for a digital currency, known as the e-krona.

The Riksbank has been exploring the idea of its own digital currency for some time, especially given the rapid decline in the use of cash in Sweden.

The European Central Bank has also been investigating the possible benefits of CBDC since last year.

Fran Boait, executive director of Positive Money, said policymakers had been slow to realise how much enthusiasm there was for digital money.

They have been asleep at the wheel over the future of our money system being determined by a small number of banks, payment companies and now tech giants.

The rapid decline of cash and threat of private digital currencies like Facebooks libra have served as a much-needed wake-up call, but central bankers have a lot of catching up to do.

Central banks need to accelerate plans for a central bank digital currency, which would both ensure that people have the choice of a safe public banking option and prevent our monetary system being completely surrendered to unaccountable private interests. This new group must serve as a vehicle for doing so.

Excerpt from:
Bank of England to consider adopting cryptocurrency - The Guardian

Another week, another round ofCrypto Tidbits. The past seven days have been quite, quite exciting for Bitcoin and its ilk.

Per data from Coin360, BTC has gained 11% in the past week, rallying as high as $9,000 as buyers have stepped in en-masse. While already impressive in and of itself, what has been especially interesting is the performance of altcoins, which have largely outpaced Bitcoin for the first time in a while.

Ethereum gained 22%, surging to multi-month highs on the back of positive news and an influx of buying pressure; Bitcoin Satoshis Vision (BSV) has surged by 75%, rallying higher on developments in a court case between Craig S. Wright and his former business partner; and a majority of other altcoins saw weekly gains between 10% and 20%.

Like the market, the underlying industry saw its fair share of positive developments over the past week, which is as follows.

Continue reading here:
Crypto Tidbits: Bitcoin Hits $9,000, Institutional Cryptocurrency Investment Spikes, NBA Team Uses Ethereum - newsBTC

Anti-Money Laundering (AML) , Blockchain & Cryptocurrency , Cybercrime

Cybercriminals are using increasingly sophisticated methods to turn illicitly gained cryptocurrency into cash, which raises new concerns about enforcing anti-money laundering laws, according to a report by blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis.

See Also: Live Webinar | Empowering Your Human Firewall: The Art and Science of Secure Behavior

During 2019, analysts at Chainalysis traced $2.8 billion in bitcoin that criminal entities sent through cryptocurrency exchanges. They found that some exchanges known as "over-the-counter brokers" are being leveraged by cybercriminals to convert cryptocurrency that is paid out in ransomware and other attacks into cash for a fixed fee.

These brokers facilitate trade between individual buyers and sellers who don't want to transact on an open exchange, according to the report. And while most of these over-the-counter brokers are legitimate, there is a subgroup that the Chainalysis report calls the "Rogue 100," which help circumvent laws, including anti-money laundering and know your customer regulations that are designed to ensure that businesses can identify their clients.

The emergence of these types of rogue cryptocurrency exchanges, along with technical advances, have made tracking virtual currency used in cybercrime, as well as terrorist financing, more difficult for law enforcement, the Chainalysis report finds.

"What's especially worrying are the advancements in technical sophistication that have enabled successful terrorism financing campaigns using cryptocurrency," the report states.

The Chainalysis analysis does not name any of these rogue cryptocurrency brokers. But it notes that these exchanges control their own digital wallets and frequently exchange bitcoins and other virtual currencies among themselves to make tracing these transactions more difficult to trace.

Given the low barriers to entry in establishing an over-the-counter broker, some of the Rogue 100 brokers may actually be individuals operating through apps, while others could be long-established criminal networks, Chainalysis co-founder Jonathan Levin told Fortune in an interview.

In addition to these 100 brokers, the Chainalysis report found that two cryptocurrency exchange organizations, Binance and Huobi, are helping to convert illegally gotten bitcoins and other virtual currencies into cash. These two exchanges also appear to circumvent anti-money laundering and Know Your Customer rules, according to the report.

The study found that out of the Rogue 100 brokers, 70 have accounts on Huobi and received $194 million in bitcoin from criminal entities over the course of 2019. The report did not mention how many of the Rogue 100 accounts were on Binance.

In response to the Chainalysis report, Samuel Lim, the chief compliance officer of Binance, told Fortune that the company would continue to improve its proprietary know your customer and anti-money laundering technologies, as well as use third-party tools and partners to further strengthen the company's compliance standards.

A Huobi representative also denied wrongdoing.

"As an exchange that works closely with regulators and government agencies in every country we operate in, we practice a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to illicit activities," Ciara Sun, vice president of global markets at Huobi said in a statement provided to Bloomberg.

The use of cryptocurrencies to support cybercrime has begun to draw more scrutiny from U.S. federal agencies as well as Congress.

In October, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was questioned by a U.S. Congressional committee about the company's plans for a cryptocurrency called Libra. In the hearing, the committee raised concerns about privacy issues as well as potential use of the currency for money laundering or to finance deals for illegal drugs and weapons (see: Congress Grills Facebook's Zuckerberg on Cryptocurrency Plans)

In November, the U.S. Federal Reserve warned that the increasing use of cryptocurrencies known as "stablecoins," without proper safeguards and regulations, could pave the way for crime, including money laundering and terrorism financing (see: Federal Reserve Report Raises Concerns About 'Stablecoins')

The Chainalysis report urges law enforcement agents and regulators to become experts in crypto-based technology in order to start fighting money laundering in cryptocurrency. It also calls on exchanges to carry out more extensive due diligence on over-the-counter brokers and other nested services operating on their platforms.

Law enforcement can address such challenges by collaborating to trace funds and applying additional scrutiny to exchanges and cryptocurrency brokers, Levin told Fortune.

Advancements in cryptocurrency have also enabled terrorist organizations to carry out sophisticated financing campaigns using cryptocurrency, Chainalysis noted in another section of its report.

The study analyzed two terrorism financing campaigns and compared them to determine how terrorist groups are improving their ability to attract donors online.

One campaign that Chainalysis studied, which took place between 2016 and 2018, was carried out by Ibn Taymiyya Media Center, the media wing of Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem, which has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department, the report notes

A second campaign, which started early last year and is ongoing, was led by Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, as well as another unnamed terrorist organization.

While the Ibn Taymiyya Media Center campaign publicized a single bitcoin address for financing from its donors, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades organization integrated a bitcoin wallet into its website. The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades' bitcoin wallet generated a unique bitcoin address for each donor to which they could send contributions, according to the report.

Cybercriminals used this feature to make it more difficult to identify addresses and track transactions in and out of those addresses, according to the report. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades even published a video on their website instructing people on how to donate anonymously.

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades campaign that used unique bitcoin addresses raised more than $10,000, making it the most successful, according to the report. More than half of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades donations came from cryptocurrency exchanges, the study found.

"It's possible that in 2020 and beyond, more terrorist organizations will embrace cryptocurrency as a fundraising tool and push for further advancements that allow them to take in more funds and enhance their privacy," according to the report.

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How Cybercriminals Are Converting Cryptocurrency to Cash - BankInfoSecurity.com

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Cryptocurrency and OFAC: Beware of the Sanctions Risks - JD Supra

The man thought to be behind notorious cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e, which is involved in a multi-billion Bitcoin BTC fraud case, will be extradited to France.

According to a Greek news report, Alexander Vinnik is facing allegations of laundering at least $4 billion through the cryptocurrency exchange.

[Read:Alleged Russian boss of Bitcoin money-laundering scheme wants to go home]

The extradition comes after a Greek court reportedly gave the go-ahead.

Vinniks lawyer Zoi Konstandopoulou said he had been flown to France just hours the court ruling. The lawyer said he had been taken to hospital as he was on the 35th day of a hunger strike in protest of his prospective extradition to the European country, The New York Times (NYT) reports.

However, NYT notes that Greek authorities were unable to confirm on Thursday whether Vinnik had already left Greece.

France reportedly wants to trial Vinnik for alleged cybercrime, money laundering, belonging to a criminal organization, and extortion.

As previously reported by Hard Fork, Vinnik was arrested by Greek authorities in July 2017 while he was holidaying in the country with his family.

The arrest came after Russia, France, and the US all issued international warrants for his arrest.

Vinnik has maintained his innocence throughout saying: I do not consider myself guilty [] The fact that I worked for BTC-e and did my job, and its not justifiable to accuse me of it. I found out about the charge about a month after I was taken into custody. This was told to me by my Russian lawyer.

Founded in 2011, BTC-e is reported to have handled almost 5 percent of Bitcoins trading volume at one point. However, subsequent research showed that as much 95 percent of ransomware-related cashouts took place through its platform.

An attempt to shut down the exchange was made by the US Justice Department after they charged Vinnik (and BTC-e) with allegedly running an international money laundering operation featuring stolen funds from Mt. Gox.

Published January 24, 2020 11:19 UTC

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Alleged BTC-e boss will be extradited to France over cryptocurrency fraud - The Next Web

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has clarified that regulated entities cannot offer crypto assets in India, but this does not mean theres an overall digital asset ban. Recently, The Economic Times of India cited a document that the central bank had submitted to the nations Supreme Court back in September.

The document reads:

Firstly, the RBI has not prohibited VCs (virtual currencies) in the country. The RBI has directed the entities regulated by it to not provide services to those persons or entities dealing in or settling VCs.

In April 2018, the RBI had issued a statement limiting its services to anyone participating in cryptocurrency usage. The statement said:

In view of the associated risks, it has been decided that, with immediate effect, entities regulated by RBI shall not deal with or provide services to any individual or business entities dealing with or settling VCs.

According to an earlier Cointelegraph report, following the banks statement, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) petitioned for a reversal of the crypto-related regulation. IAMAI is a non-profit group dedicated to digital growth.

Read more:
Indian central bank: Cryptocurrency is not banned in the country - FXStreet