Category Archives: Bitcoin

Key Takeaways

As Bitcoins price lugs in the $7,000 region for the 3rd week in a row, the U.S. and other European miners are taking hits due to mining unprofitability. A few days before Bitcoin collapsed from the $8,000 region, a total of ~$17 million BTC moved out of miners wallet, indicating miner capitulation. Since its drop to the $6,515 on November 25, the price has not revived completely.

At press time, BTC moved sideways priced at $7,195 with a market cap of $130 billion. The next move for Bitcoin is as predictable as a coin toss: the chances are 50-50.

The 4-hour chart showed two strong overhead resistances for Bitcoin since October 28. At present, there are multiple supports and hence variable outcomes for Bitcoin.

The first outcome is a Symmetrical Triangle which could push the price of Bitcoin either way.

The second outcome is a Descending Trianglewhich has a higher chance of pushing Bitcoin further below, perhaps, even retest $6,515.

The price has consistently formed lower highs, which exudes bearish presence; there are, however, formations of higher lows, indicating resisting bulls. The bearish signs seen on MACD and RSI push the probability in favor of bears.

The Fibonacci Tool showed the price crawled up below the last second level, $7,433 [23.6%], indicating chances of the next drop retesting the $6,515 level.

The overhead resistances starting from October 28, 30, are presenting a challenge for the buyers, hence the lower highs for BTC. Moreover, tweaking the horizontal support, we get a descending triangle, which inherently has a bearish bias.

Factoring other indicators like the downtrend which has loomed over Bitcoin since June 26, the bearish case gets stronger. Another reliable indicator, VPVR, indicates that BTCs price is hanging by a thread and that further bearish pressure could cause it to slip further below.

For both of the above formations, BTC shows a bearish bias and hence converges toward an incoming dump in the near future. Supporting this theory and hence catalyzing these outcomes is the Death Cross, which has loomed over Bitcoin since October 25. The bearish scenario would allow the price of BTC to retest the $6,515 lows. Dipping as low as $6,200 in the next week. Further bearish momentum should logically cause a steeper move to $5,920.

Since Bitcoins rallies are out of the blue, there is a rather slim chance that could defy all the technical indications and could take BTC higher. Although unlikely, if it does occur, the price would be immediately stopped at $8,000.

Go here to read the rest:
Bitcoins grim future indicates a retest of $6,515 and perhaps lower - AMBCrypto

Bitcoin (BTC) has been paralyzed at $7,200 since Thursday. The first digital asset attempted a recovery towards $7,600 at the beginning of the week. However, the upside momentum proved to be unsustainable as the price retreated to the lower boundary of the recent consolidation channel. At the time of writing, BTC/USD is changing hands at $7,202, mostly unchanged both on a day-to-day basis and since the beginning of Friday.

Low volatility and non-existent trading activity confined the market to tight ranges, but the situation may change ahead of the weekend. We are moving towards the holiday season, which is often characterized by low liquidity conditions. It means that the market may be vulnerable to sharp exaggerated movements. Many traders might start taking their money off the table to avoid losses.

Historically, Bitcoin tends to grow ahead of Christmas. This trend is often referred to as Santa's rally. However, there is no guarantee that this year the history will repeat.

If we zoom out to the weekly chart, we can clearly see that BTC/USD is moving within a downside channel. In October, the similar consolidation pattern of three doji candles ended in a strong recovery, though the trend remained unbroken. This time we may see similar momentum with the price recovering towards $9,000-$9,100 during the pre-Christmas week. This movement will qualify for Santa's rally. However, we will need to see a sustainable move above $9,150 (the sloping trendline) for the recovery to gain traction in the long run and put the current bearish trend at risk.

On the downside, once $7,000 is broken, the sell-off may extendtowards $6,550. This support area is created by a combination of the lower line of the weekly Bollinger Band and the lowest level of the previous week. We will need to see a sustainable move below this handle for the downside move to gain traction with the next focus on psychological $6,000 and $5,000 (SMA200 weekly).

Read this article:
Bitcoin may jump to $9,100 ahead of Christmas - FXStreet

For the past few days, Bitcoin price (BTC) has ranged between $7,400 to $7,100 and it seems bears are keen to push the price back below $7,000 before this week closes.

Earlier in the week, MATIC made headlines after dropping more than 60% in the span of a few minutes and a few other Binance IEO tokens followed with double-digit losses.

Fast forward to today and many altcoins are back to producing double-digit gains on their BTC pairs. At the time of writing FunFair (FUN) is up 26.6%, WAVES 15.31% and THETA 12.36% and thats just pointing out a select few.

Crypto market weekly performance. Source: Coin360

Meanwhile, Bitcoin appears bearish on the 1-hour to the weekly timeframe and barring quick day trades the price action leans towards bears and pales in comparison to what is happening with altcoins.

Interestingly, despite Bitcoins bearish bias, Bitfinex longs have increased significantly (56%) since Nov. 22 and this shows that many traders believe the decrease in selling pressure and the last major drop to $6,530 on Nov. 25 was the bottom.

The current price action suggests otherwise, and savvy traders will recall what usually happens when either long or short positions skyrocket.

BTC USD Longs chart. Source: TradingView

In the event that BTC falls below $7,080 and $6,800, many analysts expect the price to drop to $6,500 where the price made a local bottom on Nov. 25. This would place Bitcoin price at the lower descending channel trendline. However, the volume profile visible range (VPVR) shows a lack of support in this area.

BTC USD daily chart. Source: TradingView

In the daily timeframe, the moving average convergence divergence histogram (MACD) shows momentum beginning to wane and the signal line has flattened as the price is pinched between $7,150 and $7,300.

As mentioned in the previous analysis, the VPVR suggests that demand does not really kick in until $6,000 and more so around $5,530.

Willy Woos Bitcoin NVT Signal shows Bitcoins realized price at $5,619 just a hair away from the $5,530 high volume node of the VPVR and $89 away from Bitcoins realized value at $5,619.

Bitcoin NVT Signal. Source: charts.woodbull.com

Regarding Bitcoins short-term price action, the digital asset continues to post lower highs and is capped below the 12-period exponential moving average (EMA).

BTC USD 6-hour chart. Source: TradingView

The $7,300 level is proving to be tough resistance to overcome and currently $7,150 and $7,080 are acting as support. If Bitcoin fails to hold these levels, the next expected step is a drop to $6,800.

Before opening a position, traders should look for the price to cross above the 12-EMA and the previous lower high at $7,400.

BTC USD weekly chart. Source: TradingView

A glance at the weekly timeframe also shows BTC/USD hovering slightly above the 100-WMA ($7,000) for the second week in a row. $7,600 is clearly shown as a point of challenge and any high volume breakout will need to sustain above this level.

The lower Bollinger Band arm lines up with the bottom descending channel trendline at $6,466 and as mentioned earlier, $5,330 appears to be the next strong level of support.

Throughout this week, traders should keep an eye on the $7,080 price level and the BTC/USD Longs at Bitfinex.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author (@HorusHughes) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

The rest is here:
Why Bitcoin Price Is Headed to 7-Month Low If $7K Support Fails - Cointelegraph

International journalist and media defender of Bitcoin Max Keiser gave a presentation at Labitconf in Montevideo, Uruguay, in which he explained the impact that cryptocurrencies generate in the global scenario and particularly in the Latin American region.

With a talk entitled "Why Bitcoin Matters in Emerging Markets," Keiser took the stage in his casual style, with a sports jacket and shorts, but mainly with a very critical tone towards trust money and the traditional economic and financial system.

Keiser stressed that Bitcoin's first function is to clean up the mess left in the world by fiat money. One of the points he highlighted during the presentation was: "The inherent violence of fiat money must be replaced by the peaceful nature of Bitcoin."

On the other hand, he noted that politicians in the United States are beginning to take into account what cryptocurrencies are all about, and quoted Representative Brad Sherman, who had acknowledged that Bitcoin's purpose is to take their power away.

For Keiser, "Bitcoin is the currency of a global revolution and the nightmare of trust money," as he put it during Labitconf, it's resistance money."

On the other hand, he said that when we talk about regulations and regulators, we have to bear in mind that these regulators are paid in fiat money.

Keiser also took the opportunity to talk about Argentina, saying that Argentina is a good place to adopt Bitcoin as the country has lived through recurrent times of economic and social crisis in recent decades.

Continued here:
Max Keiser: Bitcoin's First Function Is to Clean Up the Mess Left by Fiat - Cointelegraph

Bitcoin Cash ABC

Bitcoin Cash ABC rose by 1.88% on Friday. Reversing a 0.48% fall from Thursday, Bitcoin Cash ABC ended the day at $211.14.

A bearish start to the day saw Bitcoin Cash ABC fall to an early morning intraday low $205.68 before making a move.

Steering clear of the major support levels, Bitcoin Cash ABC rallied to a late afternoon intraday high $212.61.

The rally saw Bitcoin Cash ABC break through the first major resistance level at $208.12 and second major resistance level at $209.98.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin Cash ABC was up by 0.02% to $211.18. Within the first hour, Bitcoin Cash ABC rose from an early morning low $210.60 to a high $211.18.

Bitcoin Cash ABC left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

A move back through to Fridays high $212.61 would support a run at the first major resistance level at $213.94.

Bitcoin Cash ABC would need the support of the broader market, however, to break back through to $212 levels.

Barring a broad-based crypto rally, resistance at $213 would likely pin Bitcoin Cash ABC back on the day.

In the event of a rally, the second major resistance level at $216.74 could come into play.

Failure to move back through Fridays high $212.61 could weigh on Bitcoin Cash ABC later in the day.

A fall through to sub-$210 levels would bring the first major support level at $207.01 into play before any recovery.

Barring a broad-based crypto sell-off, however, Bitcoin Cash ABC should steer clear of the second major support level at $202.88.

Major Support Level: $207.01

Major Resistance Level: $213.94

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $269

38% FIB Retracement Level: $316

62% FIB Retracement Level: $393

EOS rallied by 1.4% on Friday. Following on from a 0.36% gain on Thursday, EOS ended the day at $2.6313.

A mixed start to the day saw EOS fall to a mid-morning intraday low $2.5803 before finding support.

Steering clear of the first major support level at $2.5364, EOS rallied to a late afternoon intraday high $2.6523.

EOS broke through the first major resistance level at $2.6392 before easing back to $2.61 levels.

Story continues

While finding late support, the first major resistance level pinned EOS back from a late breakout.

At the time of writing, EOS was up by 0.04% to $2.6323. A range-bound first hour saw EOS fall to an early morning low $2.6312 before rising to a high $2.6323.

EOS left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

EOS would need to steer clear of sub-$2.63 levels to support a run at the first major resistance level at $2.6628.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for EOS to break out from Thursdays high $2.6523.

Barring a broad-based crypto rally, resistance at $2.65 levels would likely limit any upside on the day.

Failure to steer clear of sub-$2.63 levels could see EOS reverse Fridays gains.

A fall through to sub-$2.6220 levels would bring the first major support level at $2.5908 into play before any recovery.

Barring a crypto meltdown, however, EOS should steer well clear of sub-$2.58 support levels on the day.

Major Support Level: $2.5908

Major Resistance Level: $2.6628

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $6.62

38% FIB Retracement Level: $9.76

62% FIB Retracement Level: $14.82

Ethereum ended the day flat on Friday. Following a 0.98% gain on Thursday, Ethereum ended the day at $144.70.

A bearish start to the day saw Ethereum fall to a late morning intraday low $142.76 before finding support.

Steering clear of the first major support level at $140.49, Ethereum rallied to a late afternoon intraday high $145.13.

Falling short of the major resistance levels, Ethereum fell back to $143 levels before late support kicked in.

At the time of writing, Ethereum was up by just 0.06% to $144.79. A relatively bullish start to the day saw Ethereum rise to a high $145.03 before falling to a low $144.58.

Ethereum left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Ethereum would need to move back through to $145 levels to support a run at the first major resistance level at $145.63.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Ethereum to break out from Thursdays high $145.13.

In the event of a broad-based crypto rally, the second major resistance level at $146.57 could come into play.

Failure to move back through to $145 levels could see Ethereum hit reverse.

A fall back through to sub-$144.20 levels would bring the first major support level at $143.26 into play.

Barring an extended sell-off, however, Ethereum should steer well clear of the second major support level at $141.83.

Major Support Level: $143.26

Major Resistance Level: $145.63

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $257

38.2% FIB Retracement Level: $367

62% FIB Retracement Level: $543

Please let us know what you think in the comments below.

Thanks, Bob

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

The rest is here:
Bitcoin Cash ABC, EOS and Ethereum Daily Tech Analysis 14/12/19 - Yahoo Finance

The cryptocurrency market has been painfully slow this week. With some notable exceptions like Tezos, Chainlink, and Matic, Bitcoin (BTC) and major altcoins were oscillating in tight ranges with a bearish bias. The recovery attempted at the beginning of the week failed on approach to local resistance levels, which was interpreted by some cryptocurrency experts as evidence of bulls' weakness.

The total capitalization of all digital assets in circulation has hardly changed in the recent seven days, while Bitcoin's market share decreased from 66.9% to 66.6% due to the strong growth of the simple of the above-mentioned altcoins.

The United States and Europe are anxious to get their share of the industry until it is too late. Thus, the New York state regulator proposes a new framework for coins and tokens listings. Under the proposed regulation, the companies that once received the regulatory approval for coins issuance will be able to introduce new coins without asking for additional permissions.

At this stage, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) is gathering public comments about the plan based on a review of the existing virtual currency framework.

Europe is all about stablecoins. According to the new head of the European Central Bank, the Union needs to stay ahead of the curve. Speaking at her first ECB press-conference that followed the monetary policy decision, Lagarde suggested that the regulator should define the goals of the potential stablecoins project before moving forward.

"Are we trying to reduce costs? Are we trying to cut out the middleman? Are we trying have inclusive finance at no cost? There is a whole range of objectives that can be pursued."

She also noted that other global regulators, including the bank of Canada and Bank of England, are moving forward with their stablecoins projects, which means that there is a demand for such products that need to be addressed.

Russia and China are on the other side of the spectrum. A social media platform Weibo, also known as the Chinese Twitter, blocked the accounts of TRON's founder Justin Sun and Binance. This is just another evidence of the aggressive Chinese approach towards cryptocurrency-related business.

Meanwhile, in Russia, the Federal Service of Financial Monitoring (Rosfinmonitoring) said that it was dangerous to allow cryptocurrencies in a country prone to Ponzi schemes and financial frauds. The authorities pointed out that it might be relatively easy to regulate and control the new type of asset in small countries with a high level of law compliance; however, in Russia, it may lead to a storm of financial fraud.

The market is moving towards the Christmas season. This period is usually characterized by low trading activity and virtually non-existent liquidity, as many traders take days off.

Traditionally, it is a very boring time in terms of market movements; however, traders should stay on the alert as low liquidity may easily result in unpredictable, exaggerated moves in both directions and sudden bouts of volatility.

In December 2017 and December 2018, Bitcoin demonstrated a significant recovery ahead of Christmas. This year-end growth is known as Santa's rally, and it is typical to all financial markets. According to MarketWatch, no other month has posted a higher average return than December.

However, there is no guarantee that history will repeat. Sometimes Santa considers that traders misbehaved during the year and leave them without the long-awaited rally.

On the weekly chart, Bitcoin (BTC) is moving within the long-term downside trend with the trendline resistance currently at $9,100. This barrier is followed by SMA200 (Simple Moving Average) daily at $9,300, and 38.2% Fibo retracement at $9,000. Is this area is cleared, Bitcoin will be out of the woods. A sustainable move above this resistance zone will improve the long-term technical conditions significantly and open up the way towards 2019 high at $13,862.

Notably, three doji candles after a strong decline resemble the formation created at the beginning of October. If this time, the price will follow the same pattern, we may see a strong recovery in the area of the trendline resistance in the pre-Christmas week.

While the weekly RSI (Relative Strength Index) remains flat, the daily indicator is starting to reverse to the upside, which may signal that the recovery is underway.

On the downside, if BTC/USD moves below $7,000, the sell-off may be extended towards the support of $6,550 created by a combination of the lower line of the weekly Bollinger Band and the lowest level of the previous week. The next important barrier is seen on approach to psychological $6,000. Most likely, it will slow down the sell-off and trigger the recovery to $7,000.

The Forecast Poll of experts has improved slightly since the previous week. The expectations on all timeframes show a mixed picture as the weekly chart stayed bearish, monthly forecast turned from bearish to neutral and a quarterly timeframe is now bullish. The average price on shorter timeframes stays close to $7,000, while the quarterly target exceeded8,000, which means that analysts are more optimistic about Bitcoin's long-term fate.

Go here to see the original:
Bitcoin Weekly Forecast: Let the Santa rally begin - FXStreet

The crypto sphere is international, however differences in media coverage of certain blockchain projects can be observed from country to country. In the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Bitcoin SV (BSV) seems to be underrepresented in the crypto news. One could even argue there is quite a negative connotation in almost all German reporting about Bitcoin SV so far. Why would that be the case though? Time to ask someone knowledgeable.

CoinGeeks Michael Wehrmann had the chance to win Christoph Bergmann for an interview. Christoph Bergmann is a known German Bitcoin blogger who runs bitcoinblog.de since 2013 and recently published his book Bitcoin Die verrckte Geschichte vom Aufstieg eines neuen Geldes (title translated: Bitcoin a crazy story of the rise of new money). Furthermore, he is involved in the creation of the wordpress plugin Mediopay, which uses Bitcoin SV as an easy to implement payment solution for online content.

Michael Wehrmann: Hello Christoph! Kindly give our audience your opinion on Bitcoin SV in general and tell us about your promising project Mediopay.

Christoph Bergmann: Its very simple. BTC was not allowed to grow onchain. Then BCH started to fall in love with centralized capacity planning too. So Bitcoin SV is the only Bitcoin version left which allows massive onchain scaling. This was the design outlined by Satoshi and I want to know how it plays out.

MedioPay builds on this. The idea is to use micropayments to monetize all kind of user interactions on media sites: reading, commenting, sharing, liking and so on. Its not just a paywall. Paywalls are simple and boring. If you have a bit of imagination, you can do so much more to allow journalism to make money in the Internet.

Michael Wehrmann: How would you describe the perception of Bitcoin SV in the crypto communities of Germany, Austria and Switzerland?

Christoph Bergmann: Oh, its bad. Some are interested, and if you show people what BSV can do, they open up a bit. But its a hard road, and there is always somebody reminding everyone how bad Craig Wright is and that BSV is a scam.

Michael Wehrmann: Did this perception change in the last months?

Christoph Bergmann: Not really. For most people crypto is like soccer: Once you support a team, you support it forever. Changing peoples opinion is often close to impossible.

Michael Wehrmann: You keep your audience informed about Bitcoin SV on your blog. How did your readers react to your articles concerning Bitcoin SV so far?

Christoph Bergmann: Usually not that bad. Many are open and somehow know that BSV is that thing they wanted Bitcoin to become, before it was reengineered. But many just dont care for most crypto is just an investment.

Michael Wehrmann: If you were to write more often about Bitcoin SV on your blog, how do you think your readers would respond?

Christoph Bergmann: My readers expect me to cover topics they are interested in and which are relevant for the broader crypto market. Many are customers of the platform Bitcoin.de, where Bitcoin SV has a tiny trading volume. So it would be not a good representation of the market if I wrote too often about BSV.

Michael Wehrmann: How would you describe the crypto media coverage of Bitcoin SV in the German-speaking areas?

Christoph Bergmann: Maybe as non existent. Mainstream journalists dont even know about Bitcoin SV maybe about Craig Wright, but rather in a negative way and if they try to learn, they become confused about all of this.

The largest German crypto magazine, BTC-Echo, made some fair reports, but didnt go deep, while they also had published some heavy anti BSV stories. Other blogs and podcasts are usually very anti BSV or ignore it.

Michael Wehrmann: Would you agree there is a lack of media coverage concerning Bitcoin SVs technical and economical developments in the crypto media outlets of German-speaking countries?

Christoph Bergmann: Yes, definitely. They miss a lot of thrilling things.

For example, PayMail is the most user-friendly way to use cryptocurrencies with a nice level of privacy. It is lightyears ahead of everything else. I dont know how I lived without. But you dont find any article about it outside my blog.

Also, MoneyButton is such a great tool for all kind of payments. People waste so much time not using it. Its like they decide to slow down their internet connection. But again, you dont find anything about it.

I could go on and on. We have all those scaling records, proving all those blockchain cant scale buttcoiners wrong. But again, nobody reports.

Or take TonicPOWs P2P advertising: this is a perfect example of how to decentralize a terribly centralized market. Or Unwriter and MonkeyLord literally breaking the great Firewall. Everybody in crypto wants this. And FloatSV and Okex accepting zero conf BSV deposits.

But, again and again and again: No one writes about it, no one tries it.

Michael Wehrmann: Why is that the case though?

Christoph Bergmann: Its complicated. On one side, journalists have to be selective, as attention is a limited resource, and so they focus on coins which receive more attention by readers. This is not just a problem for BSV, but also for Bitcoin Cash, Monero and Dash.

On the other side, most of us crypto journalists are part of the community. We are basically not journalists, but cheap marketers for coin holders. We are sucked in those narratives, and for most, they are highly anti BSV. So they dont WANT to write about it.

Michael Wehrmann: You attend regularly Bitcoin Stammtische (translated: Bitcoin meetups) in Germany. Describe the perception of Bitcoin SV in those meetups for us. Is there anything different you notice in comparison to how the German-speaking crypto media covers Bitcoin SV?

Christoph Bergmann: Unfortunately, no. This must be a disappointing interview for you. Ive only met one single BSV fan on a South German meetup. Even people who highly respect my knowledge and want me to give talks dont want to even try BSV. But I dont give up to change this.

Michael Wehrmann: There is a new German newsletter about Bitcoin SVs Metanet called Metanet Weekly. Tell us about that. Who is behind it and how do readers respond so far?

Christoph Bergmann: Its a project of B2029, which is a Berlin based association for Bitcoin SV. It was founded by Stefan, Ekhard and me, after we organized the first Hello Metanet workshop. With Metanet Weekly we write about all the weekly news about BSV in German. I have very little reader feedback, but our visits and email-subscriptions are on the rise.

Michael Wehrmann: The German crypto market place bitcoin.de listed Bitcoin SV as soon as possible, whereas the Austrian exchange Bitpanda did not and still does not offer Bitcoin SV to this very day. Bitpanda enables way smaller projects than Bitcoin SV to be bought and sold though and made BCH tradable pretty fast. What are your thoughts on that?

Christoph Bergmann: Exchanges and Bitcoin SV is a difficult topic. Many in BSV dont realize how big the problems are. When exchanges list or delist coins they think about profits.

The BSV community has the very noble approach to not care about trading and gambling, but focus on building. I like this, but it has the effect that trading volume on exchanges is very low. After the delisting from Kraken and Binance I expected volume on Bitcoin.de to grow. But the opposite happened. All the arbitrage tradings bots relied on Kraken and Binance API, so they broke for BSV. This made price finding unreliable.

At the same time BSV scales the nodes. This increases the costs for exchanges. Some think they will create some kind of SPV. In reality exchanges will not invest many developer hours in a coin which produces a very low volume. They will just delist.

Michael Wehrmann: In your book you present a whole chapter called civil war of Bitcoin. Tell us how you personally experienced the BTC-BCH-BSV forks and give us an idea of how the German-speaking crypto community thinks about these events.

Christoph Bergmann: Oh, I had to write this. It was a very personal story.

I never got over it that the community was so much ok with large parts of it became censored. What did Bitcoin stand against if not censorship?

Let me tell you the secret fundamental law of crypto: You always get what you dont want to get. BTC wanted censorship resistent money, and they got censorship. They wanted decentralization so much, but they got a lightning system which hardly works without middlemen for non expert users. And Bitcoin Cash wanted anarcho capitalism, but ended with centralized production quotas.

It was also disturbing for me to learn how trolling can influence and fabricate opinion. This made me really pessimistic about the future of our society. A couple of keyboard warriors with some VPN switches and a good spin doctor can mass influence people much better than all media together.

The blocksize war itself is a very complicated story. Its technically too complex for most people, and if you finally understand the technology, you realize that it has never been a question of technology at all, but of politics.

But it is complicated, and I am impressed how good BTC exercised the digital gold narrative and how they have spun up Lightning.

Michael Wehrmann: Would you say there is a German-speaking Bitcoin SV community growing at the moment? If so, where and how exactly?

Christoph Bergmann: Not much, unfortunately.

Michael Wehrmann: In March 2019 you published an article with the title Bitcoin SVs Metanet: ingenious or just insane? Is there an answer yet?

Christoph Bergmann: Mh, hard question. We still dont really know what to do with the Metanet. There are many discussions, some only want to store metadata onchain, others want to put everything onchain and cry for even lower fees.

I think real data ownership can become a big issue. If you have your data encrypted onchain, it is always available for you, like its on your own disc, but you can access it from everywhere, and nobody can steal or destroy it. If you look at what all those big scary servers do, and how they get more and more influence over the lifes of people, we really need this. In some way the Metanet is our only chance to prevent the upcoming data tyranny.

But will people realize it? Will they get out of their beloved nanny zone under the hood of a scary server? Taking care of your own data is terrifying for most.

There are many other aspects. Take all the ransomware attacks. There have been large scale attack waves, disabling the systems of cities, public services, hospitals and many large companies. Its hard to fight it with conventional methods, and its reaching a state of permanent cyber terrorism. Data on the Metanet would be immune to it, while not being as hard to access as data on a cold backup.

Or take archives. Im a historian and spent a lot of time in archives, looking through 17th century papers. Many archivars are concerned that we will have a digital dark age, because electronic data is much less durable than paper sheets. The Metanet could be a solution for this, by making data durable and selecting data economically. WeatherSV does an awesome job here, also Twetch.

So, there are many interesting ideas. When I wrote the article I suspected it was madness technically to put all the data onchain. In this regard I have become less pessimistic. But Im still sceptical if people will use it, and if they will realize that BSV is the solution and not some other data chain or non incentivized networks like IPFS.

Michael Wehrmann: Thanks for your insights!

The situation for Bitcoin SV in the German-speaking countries does not seem to be bright at this moment. However, results will speak for themselves in the long run and will sooner or later be noticed, as well as covered by all crypto media outlets. We thank Christoph Bergmann for the interview and highly appreciate his efforts to spread information about Bitcoin SVs developments in the German-speaking areas.

To receive the latest CoinGeek.com news, special discounts on CoinGeek Conferences and other inside information direct to your inbox, please sign up for our mailing list.

Go here to read the rest:
Bitcoin SVs situation in the German-speaking countries - CoinGeek

Billionaire Mark Cuban, a prolific investor and owner of the NBAs Dallas Mavericks, says Bitcoin will never function as a reliable currency or medium of exchange.

Says Cuban,

[Theres] no chance [Bitcoin becomes a widely-used currency]. Not because it cant work technically, although there are challenges. It could. But rather because its too difficult to use, too easy to hack, way too easy to lose, too hard to understand, too hard to assess a value.

While hackers have stolen millions in Bitcoin from centralized exchanges, Bitcoin itself, which is based on blockchain technology, has proven itself to be resilient and secure.

Cuban says there are also too many competing crypto assets, and he thinks its too much work for people to know why BTC over everything else.

Despite the critique, Cuban thinks BTC could be considered a valuable collectible similar to gold.

If you consider art or gold a viable stable financial asset, then yes. [Bitcoin] can be.

The Shark Tank star also says that Bitcoin was a bubble during the historic crypto market bull run of 2017.

He compares the flagship cryptocurrency to speculative items such as baseball collectibles and says he prefers bananas over Bitcoin because he can eat them which gives them more utility.

Bitcoin bull Anthony Pompliano, the co-founder of Morgan Creek Digital, thinks Cuban could use some more information about the worlds leading cryptocurrency, and extended an invitation to the entrepreneur via Twitter.

Hey @mcuban, I read your recent comments on Bitcoin and think you may be missing some key information. Ill fly to Dallas and we can record a podcast episode to discuss why Bitcoin is likely to be the next global reserve currency. You in??

Check Latest News Headlines

See the article here:
Billionaire Mark Cuban Says Bitcoin May Have One Valuable Use Case But Its Not As a Currency - The Daily Hodl

Bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin, Ripple's XRP, and bitcoin cash, the top five cryptocurrencies by value (excluding stablecoin tether), leaped over the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

The bitcoin price climbed from under $7,000 per bitcoin to almost $8,000 in just two days, with ethereum, litecoin, Ripple's XRP, and bitcoin cash all making similar gains (despite some worrying news from elsewhere in Europe).

The reason for the sudden rally was not immediately clear, however, reports that banks in Germany will be able to sell and store bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from next year might be behind the latest uptick.

The bitcoin price has struggled to find stable ground over recent months, with bitcoin, ethereum, ... [+] litecoin, Ripple's XRP, and bitcoin cash all bouncing around wildly.

From 2020, German banks can support the sale and custody of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, local business newspaper Handelsblatt reported.

Germany's Federal Council passed the law at the end of last week, with the new regulation expected to come into force on January 1 2020.

Today, German banks are not allowed to sell bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and the bill would overhaul the status quo.

The news was welcomed by the local bitcoin and crypto industry, as well as the banking association BdB, which said the new regulation makes it possible for investors to invest in crypto-values via domestic rather than foreign funds, could help prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, and allow "experienced" credit institutions to protect investors.

"Germany is well on its way to becoming a crypto-heaven," Sven Hildebrandt, head of the blockchain and crypto consulting firm DLC, told the newspaper in comments translated through Google. "The German legislator is playing a pioneering role in the regulation of crypto-truths."

Bitcoin's epic 2017 bull run, which saw the bitcoin price surge from under $1,000 per bitcoin at the beginning of the year to almost $20,000 in under 12 months, was largely due to expectations the traditional financial industry was about to wade into crypto.

When banks and financial institutions failed to buy into bitcoin as much as some had hoped the price fell sharply throughout 2018.

Over the last year, institutional money has gradually flowed into bitcoin and cryptocurrency, however, with the price being bolstered this year by interest in bitcoin and crypto from the world's biggest technology companies.

The bitcoin price rallied hard towards the end of last week but has since fallen back somewhat, ... [+] dragging on ethereum, Ripple's XRP, litecoin, and bitcoin cash.

Elsewhere, the bitcoin and cryptocurrency market may have been further boosted by reports Twitter and Square chief executive Jack Dorsey, known to be an advocate of bitcoin, revealed he plans to spend time in Africa next year, where it's thought he will work on some bitcoin-related projects.

Dorsey expects Africa to "define" the future, especially when it comes to bitcoin.

Excerpt from:
Is This Why Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, And Ripples XRP Suddenly Rocketed Over Thanksgiving? - Forbes

Reports of bitcoin's demise may have been exaggerated but everyone who's currently holding bitcoin is going to die one day (probably).

What happens to our digital remnants when we die has been a problem the likes of Facebook and Google have already had to grapple withbut digital currency like bitcoin makes the problem far more pressing.

Now, U.K.-based Coincover, founded just last year, has teamed up with Palo Alto-headquartered bitcoin storage company BitGo to offer bitcoin and cryptocurrency willshoping to solve the problem of what happens to your bitcoin when you die.

Bitcoin has only been around for just over 10 years but it will likely still be around long after ... [+] we're gone.

When access to a bitcoin wallet is gone, the bitcoin is gone forever. Coincover reckons around 4 million bitcoin (worth some $30 billion at current prices) has been lost as a result of people dying without letting their next of kin know how to access it.

And as bitcoin and crypto become more mainstream (eventually), the number of bitcoin being lost forever into the ether is only like to rise.

"As bitcoin becomes more mainstream and its value continues to increase, considering how to manage it as part of an estate planning exercise is becoming increasingly difficult," said David Janczewski, Coincover's cofounder and chief executive, adding that, with bitcoin, "theres no bank manager to ask, and no one can break in for you."

Earlier this year, in perhaps the worst case of posthumously lost bitcoin, the chief executive of Canadian bitcoin and crypto exchange Quadriga, Gerald Cotten, died suddenly while on vacation in India, leaving hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies apparently unrecoverable.

Bitcoin's epic 2017 rally meant many bitcoin holders became overnight millionaires, with many ... [+] worried about what will happen to their bitcoin when they died.

Though Coincover's service does little more than hand out pseudo-wallet keys to people's next of kin, bitcoin and cryptocurrency remains so clunky and tricky to use that most spouses, children, or parents of bitcoin holders would be unable to recover it on their own.

It may be that as crypto and digital asset services improve there won't be a need for this kind of service, but for now those with extensive bitcoin and crypto holdings are understandably worried.

Originally posted here:
Bitcoin Isnt Dead But One Day You Will Be - Forbes