Crypto Currency

There were signs in 2019 that large institutions are moving closer to embracing cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies. Slowly but surely, institutional players are moving into the crypto/blockchain neighborhood. According to a 2019 Fidelity Investments survey, about 22% of institutional investors already have some exposure to digital assets, with most investments having been made within the past three years. Moreover, 4 in 10 respondents say they are open to future investments in digital assets over the next five years. “Institutional investor involvement in cryptocurrency in 2019 has been primarily about getting the infrastructure in place, such as the opening of Fidelity Digital Assets and Bakkt,” Jonathan Levin, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Chainalysis, told Cointelegraph, adding:  “Now that the infrastructure is in place, we expect institutional volume to come as long as they can get comfortable with the compliance and market risks of cryptocurrency.” ...

The U.S. could lose its position as the innovation leader as the Asian tech market has grown on the global stage. Since the end of World War II, the United States has been an undisputed global leader in innovation. From putting a man on the moon to the “ Traitorous Eight ” of Fairchild and the birth of today’s Silicon Valley, the U.S. has been at the forefront of embracing emerging technology. This position has given the country a strategic advantage in dictating how technology is adopted and setting the basic standards for its use. However, as we enter the new decade, the U.S. is at risk of losing its place as the leading innovator to Asia, impacting our technological future significantly. The rise of China The largest competitor to the American innovation hegemony is China. Over the past few years, China has heavily focused on developing emerging technologies such as blockchain and AI. While PwC survey respondents viewed the U.S. as the most advanced territory developing blockch...

Crypto news for your ears instead of your eyes Those of you seeking yet another angle on consuming the latest and greatest crypto news should know about The Bad Crypto Podcast. This week’s episode starts with the good news that Bitcoin is on the rise, touches on Justin Sun’s harassment suit, and even takes a moment to acknowledge Peter Schiff’s remarkable public Bitcoin mistakes. There’s even a full serving of commentary on the fact that PornHub has added new payment support for the Tether stablecoin. No stone is left unturned in the effort to make cryptocurrency and blockchain current events more accessible and relevant to those watching the technology. Check out the latest episode below:     source https://cointelegraph.com/news/rising-btc-price-justin-suns-harassment-suit-and-more-on-the-bad-crypto-podcast

Here are the top five Bitcoin “burials” of 2019 as negative sentiments seemingly decline. Bitcoin has long been disregarded as a speculative asset class that is doomed to fail by mainstream media outlets around the world. The apathy toward the world’s preeminent cryptocurrency has been embodied by countless articles that have either hailed the death of Bitcoin or predicted its impending demise. For the past three years, Cointelegraph has reviewed the top annual Bitcoin obituaries courtesy of 99Bitcoins’ list of news articles that have unwittingly foretold the end of the cryptocurrency. In 2017, Bitcoin and the overall cryptocurrency market saw the biggest surge in history, when BTC’s value soared to over $20,000 by December of that year. The lofty gains were eventually curtailed by a humbling price correction and stagnation that ensued for much of 2018. Unsurprisingly, the number of Bitcoin obituaries skyrocketed during those years. In 2017, Bitcoin’s “death” was predicted 124...

Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer launched its commission-free campaign for BTC/USD trading pair to its U.S. customers. People in the United States now have another zero-fee option to buy Bitcoin ( BTC ) with the U.S. dollar. On Jan. 30, Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer launched its commission-free campaign for BTC/USD trading pair to its U.S. customers. bitFlyer USA operates in 47 states in the U.S. and holds New York BitLicense The zero-fee feature is only available for the BTC/USD trading pair and has been implemented on bitFlyer’s pro trading tool, bitFlyer Lightning, the firm noted in a blog post. The campaign is automatically applied to all new and existing bitFlyer USA customers clients, while the end date of the campaign period is to be defined. bitFlyer noted that they will announce any changes about two weeks in advance. While bitFlyer is headquartered in Japan and has a subsidiary in Europe, the new opportunity is an exclusive offering of bitFly...

Singapore-based crypto exchange Zebpay opens its doors to Indian clientele once again after a 16-month hiatus. Singapore-based crypto exchange Zebpay reportedly returns to the Indian market more than a year after an Indian Reserve Bank crackdown led to the exchange’s closure in the country.  After discontinuing Indian services in late 2018, Zebpay will open its exchange for the country once again, although the central bank ruling that caused its demise has not changed, IBS intelligence wrote on Jan. 29, Citing “reports.”  Shutdown in the face of regulation In September 2018, Zebpay halted exchange availability in India after the Reserve Bank of India, or RBI, forbade banks from serving crypto companies.  Although it closed operations in India, Zebpay announced expansion to Australia in May 2019, showing the outfit was still alive and growing.  Comeback in spite of limitation The RBI ban has not changed, but Zebpay has decided to open its doors to Indian cu...

Recent data shows Tether’s USDT stablecoin moves 46 times per year, on average. Recent data from crypto data site Coin Metrics shows USDT tokens change locations every eight days on average.  “The trailing 12 month velocity of  @Tether_to on Omni, Ethereum and Tron has rapidly and consistently increased since September and currently sits at ATHs, where on average each  $USDT turns over 46 times per year,” Coin Metrics posted on its Twitter account on Jan. 31.  Moving on three blockchains Tether, one of the crypto industry’s oldest stablecoin operations, originally built its USD-pegged token on Bitcoin’s Omni token layer. Tether also operates on Ethereum’s blockchain as an ERC-20 token .   Several years after its inception, Tether issued USDT on Tron’s blockchain in 2019 as an added market option. Based on Coin Metrics’ tweet, all three blockchains currently host all-time high USDT transaction numbers, in terms of how often each USDT token moves ...

The Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier of Luxembourg has spotted another unregistered crypto company. Major European financial regulator, Luxembourg’s Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), has spotted another unregistered crypto company. The firm, Crypto Bull, operating under the url crypto-bull.io, claims to be based in Luxembourg while it does not have permission to provide crypto services in the country, the CSSF announced on Jan. 31. The warning notice reads: “The CSSF informs the public that this entity has not been granted any authorisation to provide investment services or other financial services in or from Luxembourg.” The unregistered firm wants to provide services to British, Spanish and Russian users According to the website , Crypto Bull positions itself as a “reliable and technologically oriented” platform for cryptocurrency trading. Claiming to be located at 2, place de Paris, 2314 Luxembourg, Crypto Bull does not explicitly note...

The BTC/GBP pair declined by 3% as Brexit occurred and a case of coronavirus turned up in the United Kingdom. Bitcoin price ( BTC ) has been declining amid the recent coronavirus developments as today media reported that patients in the UK and Russia tested positive for the virus. The declining trend has been followed by major cryptocurrencies.  Cryptocurrency market daily overview. Source: Coin360 In a day that will mark the departure of the United Kingdom (11 p.m. UTC) from the European Union and the confirmation of 2 cases of coronavirus virus infection in the UK, BTC/GBP pair has been declining by more than 3.7% since midnight. Looking at the 15-minute timeframe, Bitcoin was trading near ‎£7,274 at midnight and started to decline steadily throughout the early morning. BTC GBP 15-minute chart. Source: TradingView Since 1:30 p.m., around the time most American and British news outlets reported on the confirmation of coronavirus, Bitcoin’s intraday price trend has been v...

The bears are attempting to stall the current rally but bulls are likely to defend the closest support levels, suggesting each dip represents a buying opportunity. Morgan Creek Capital CEO Mark Yusko believes that Bitcoin should be a part of every investment portfolio. The performance analysis of the past five years shows that even portfolios that only held 1% of their total investments in Bitcoin managed to outperform their competitors. Bitcoin offers a ten-to-one downside capture, which makes it one of the most asymmetric assets that Yusko has ever seen. The growing popularity of crypto derivatives indicates institutional players are gradually entering the space. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange group Managing Director and Global Head of Equity Index Alternative Investment Products, Tim McCourt, said: “CME Bitcoin futures have surpassed $100 billion in total notional value traded since their launch in December 2017.”  Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360...

Kraken’s security division revealed that the entire family of Trezor wallets can be hacked to steal private keys, though the method requires specialized hardware. Kraken Security Labs revealed on Jan 31. that Trezor hardware wallets and their derivatives can be hacked to extract private keys. Though the procedure is quite involved, Kraken claims that it “requires just 15 minutes of physical access to the device.” The attack requires a physical intervention on the Trezor wallet by either extracting its chip and placing it on a special device or soldering a couple of critical connectors. The Trezor chip must then be connected to a “glitcher device” that would send it signals at specific moments. These break the built-in protection that prevents the chip’s memory from being read by external devices.  The trick allows the attacker to read critical wallet parameters, including the private key seed. Though the seed is encrypted with a PIN-generated key, the researchers were able t...