Monthly Archives: December 2017

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Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, IOTA, Litecoin, Dash, Monero: Price Analysis, Dec. 30

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Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, IOTA, Litecoin, Dash, Monero

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, IOTA, Litecoin, Dash, Monero: Price Analysis, Dec. 30

Cryptocurrencies have generated wealth for the traders like no other asset class. While Bitcoin has garnered most of the attention, it is not the only one to have risen in 2017. There have been scores of winners.

Ethereum was the second leading currencies aiming to overtake Bitcoin as the dominant leader of the year; it could never really achieve the feat.

However, within the past two weeks, Ripple has skyrocketed from a low of $0.22 on Dec. 10, to a high of $2.47 today. That’s a whopping rally of 1024 percent within a span of 20 days.

As a result, Ripple has now overtaken Ethereum as the second most valuable currency by market capitalization.

Bitcoin’s dominance, which had risen above 60 percent just a few weeks back has again cooled off to 38.3 percent.

As the market matures, we are likely to see a number of changes in the rankings of these currencies. Therefore, one has to keep an open mind towards all the cryptocurrencies because as traders; our main goal is to earn money.

So, do we have any good buy setups for the end of the year or is it best to remain on the sidelines and enjoy the holidays, returning to trade in the new year? Let’s find out.

BTC/USD

We expected a pullback from the trendline, however, due to lack of buyers, the recovery never gained strength. Today, the bears easily broke below the trendline support, which has escalated the selling.

Bitcoin has broken down of the neckline of the bearish head and shoulders pattern. If the cryptocurrency sustains below the neckline, it has a pattern target of $5,745.

However, we don’t expect to see such a plunge in the short-term.

We believe that the bulls will attempt to defend the recent lows of $10,704.99. But if they fail, the bears are likely to intensify their selling. A number of long positions will start to bleed, which is likely to lead to panic selling. We see another support at the $8,000 mark.

All these lower levels will come into play only if the BTC/USD pair breaks and sustains below the 50-day SMA.

Contrarily, if the bears are unable to breakdown of the 50-day SMA, we may see a recovery in the new year. Yet, we will prefer to wait until the digital currency breaks out of the downtrend line to initiate any position. We don’t find any trades at the current price.
 

ETH/USD

We mentioned that Ethereum will become positive in the short-term only on a breakout and close above the downtrend line. Yesterday, the bulls broke out of the trendline but could not manage a close above it.

On the downside, the 20-day EMA has been providing a strong support. If this support level breaks, we may see a slide towards $646.08 and thereafter to $600 levels. On the other hand, the ETH/USD pair will become positive above $770 because it has returned from the $760 levels on three occasions.

Between the 20-day EMA and $760, we are likely to witness a volatile range-bound trading action.

Therefore, we suggest waiting until we get a clear breakout and a confirmation of the resumption of the uptrend.
 

BCH/USD

For the past two days, the bulls had been defending the $2300 mark. But their attempt to resume the rally failed yesterday.

Today, the bears have broken down of the critical support level of $2300. The next downside target on the BCH/USD pair is a fall to the 50-day SMA.

We expect a strong buying around the $1,733 levels. Nonetheless, we recommend waiting until there is a clear bottom in sight.

Consider avoiding buying in a falling market.
 

XRP/USD

Ripple roared past our initial target objective of $1.5. Today, it reached an intraday high of $2.474.

Traders who had purchased on our bullish prediction should close their positions or at least trail with a close stop loss depending on their strategy.

After such a stellar rally, we expect the XRP/USD pair to enter into a correction or a consolidation. Therefore, we don’t have any fresh buy recommendations on it.

 

IOTA/USD

The bulls have successfully held on to the lower end of the range at $3.032 for the past few days. However, they have not been able to push the cryptocurrency higher.

Today, the IOTA/USD pair is again under a bear attack, which is threatening to break below the critical support. If the bears succeed, the cryptocurrency will fall to the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement level of $2.62196.

Yet, if the bulls manage to hold the supports once again today, IOTA will continue to trade inside the range. We shall initiate buy positions only on a breakout and close above the downtrend line. Until then, we shall remain on the sidelines.

LTC/USD

The bears have broken below the neckline of the head and shoulders pattern. Unless the bulls stage takes a sharp recovery today, chances are that Litecoin will continue lower in the next few days.

We anticipate a strong support at the recent lows of $175.199. The 50-day SMA is also just below this level, which should also provide some support.

However, if both these levels fail to hold, the LTC/USD pair will fall towards $110, which is the target objective of the breakdown of the head and shoulders pattern.

Our bearish view will be invalidated if the bulls manage to push the digital currency above the neckline at $240.
 

DASH/USD

For the past two days, the bulls managed to hold on to the 20-day EMA. But today, the bears have broken below the moving average support.

Dash has a strong support at the trendline. We expect the bulls to strongly defend this level.

Though we shall avoid buying until we get a confirmation of a bottom formation because if the trendline breaks, the DASH/USD pair can fall to $800 and thereafter to $650 levels.
 

XMR/USD

We were expecting a range-bound trading action in Monero. Despite that, the bears have taken control and have broken below the 20-day EMA today, which is a bearish development.

The immediate support on Monero is at $300. If this level breaks down, we are likely to see the decline extend to the recent lows of $245.1. The 50-day SMA is also at this level. Just below there is the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement level of $230.66.

We expect a strong support in this zone. At the same time, we don’t suggest buying until the fall is arrested.

When the markets are in a bear grip, it is a good strategy to wait until the decline ends, instead of being brave and attempting to catch a falling knife.

 

Author: Rakesh Upadhyay

 

Posted By David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

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Bitcoin is passé: these are the cryptocurrencies to look at in 2018

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Bitcoin is passé: these are the cryptocurrencies to look at in 2018

Bitcoin is passé: these are the cryptocurrencies to look at in 2018

Bitcoin had a monumental 2017, with its price rising by more than 1,400pc over the past year. However, it was far from the best-performing cryptocurrency.

Of the 10 most important digital currencies by total value at the time of writing, six have been around for more than a year. All six have experienced price rises that eclipse Bitcoin, ranging from 2,870pc for Monero to 31,560pc for NEM.

As the first blockchain-based cryptocurrency, Bitcoin contains many flaws that later rivals have aimed to iron out. Transaction numbers per second are severely limited, “mining” – producing – Bitcoin consumes huge amounts of energy, and the transaction fees required for a payment to be processed quickly have been spiraling out of control.

All of these problems place doubt on Bitcoin’s ability to become a widely adopted means of payment, and ultimately on its value.

Gary McFarlane, a cryptocurrency analyst at investment shop Interactive Investor, said: “Bitcoin is the benchmark for the cryptocurrency market – other coins are judged by what they do differently to it, and how they address its flaws.

“No cryptocurrency has achieved mass adoption as a means of payment yet, so later projects that can address earlier technological issues are in a better position.”

So, aside from Bitcoin, which cryptocurrencies do those who analyse the fledgling cryptocurrency “market” have their eye on in 2018? Before you part with any money, bear in mind that any cryptocurrency investment is highly speculative, so only risk cash that you could afford to lose in its entirety and will not need in the short term.
 

Iota

Total value: $9.5bn

Iota stands for Internet of Things Application, and differs significantly from Bitcoin.

Instead of transactions being bundled together into “blocks”, those blocks being verified by a “miner” and then added to a blockchain ledger, as happens with Bitcoin, Iota uses a different technology called the “Tangle”.

Each transaction remains separate, is not amalgamated into blocks, and there are no separate miners who compete to verify transactions.

Instead, for a transaction to go through, the computer, smartphone or other device the transaction originated from must complete a mathematical problem to confirm two other random transactions.

There are no transaction fees, as the only cost is the amount of electricity a device uses to verify those transactions, which is borne by the user. In theory, this system could attain huge scale, as the more transactions that are put through, the more capacity there is to verify new transactions.

Mr McFarlane said there was a “good team” behind Iota and there were major companies interested in the technology, including Microsoft.

It is intended to be used as part of the “internet of things” – where homes, appliances and other day-to-day items are connected and communicate via a network. Its creators envisage that Iota will be used to enable micro-transactions and to allow almost anything, from a bicycle to computer processing power, to be rented out in real time.

 

Cardano

Total value: $10.2bn

Mr McFarlane said Cardano was sometimes described as an “Ethereum killer”. Like Ethereum, it is a platform that digital applications can be run on, with its own digital currency. Cardano is the name of the platform, while Ada is the currency.

“The person who heads Cardano was part of the core Ethereum team and the Cardano team are trying to address some of the problems they see with Ethereum,” he added.

Instead of using a “proof-of-work” system to verify transactions, where “miners” dedicate computing power to solving complex mathematical problems, Cardano uses a “proof-of-stake” system.

The power to verify transactions is determined by the number of coins a user holds, which also determines whether they can vote on proposed upgrades to the system. Those who verify transactions are rewarded with transaction fees.

The idea is that this system negates the need for a power-hungry proof-of-work system like that used by Bitcoin, and that those with larger stakes are incentivised to maintain a functioning system.

Critics say that in theory proof-of-stake systems are more open to certain kinds of attack, although penalties can be applied to discourage such abuse. They also point out that the largest stakeholders receive the most in transaction fees, which could give them more and more control over time.
 

Other Bitcoin rivals

David Drake, a professional investor who serves ultra-high net worth families, said he had high hopes for Verge and EOS, in addition to Iota.

He said the focus over the next six to 12 months would be on transaction speeds and the technology that underlies cryptocurrencies – areas in which Verge and EOS perform well.

Verge is focused on privacy, intending to offer completely anonymous transactions. EOS is similar to Ethereum in that it is a platform on which developers can build digital applications. EOS coins are the currency of the platform.

They are the 11th and 21st largest cryptocurrencies respectively, at $5.4bn and $1.8bn in total value.
 

How to buy

None of the currencies mentioned above is currently offered by the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges, Blockchain.info and Coinbase. That may change in the future.

Buyers will therefore require more technical knowhow and will need to carry out more research. You will need to find a cryptocurrency exchange that offers the currency you wish to buy, and a wallet service that will let you store it.

Watch out for the large number of scam outfits that appear in search engine results in this area; they may be difficult to distinguish from legitimate businesses.

You can also choose to store cryptocurrencies offline in a "hardware wallet", essentially a hard drive.

Be sure to check the fees charged by any exchange or wallet provider and the difference between the actual price of a coin and the price being offered to you.

You may be able to purchase some coins only with larger cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, rather than with cash. In that case, you will need to buy some of the required currency first.

 

Author James Connington 29 DECEMBER 2017 • 12:09PM

 

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur
 

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

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Trade in bitcoins at your own risk, finance ministry warns users

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Trade in bitcoins at your own risk, finance ministry warns users

Trade in bitcoins at your own risk, finance ministry warns users

The recent Bitcoin surge has triggered a ponzi scheme fear,in India, forcing the finance ministry to flag it on Friday.

"VCs (virtual currencies) such as bitcoins don't have any intrinsic value and are not backed by any kind of assets. The price of bitcoin and other VCs therefore is entirely a matter of mere speculation resulting in spurt and volatility in their prices," the ministry said in a statement.

The government is currently in a huddle to find out how to create safeguards against such a risk.

Flagging the risk, the ministry said there is "a real and heightened risk of investment bubble of the type seen in ponzi schemes which can result in sudden and prolonged crash exposing investors, especially retail consumers losing their hard-earned money".

Consumers need to be alert, the ministry warned, adding that currencies stored in digital/electronic format are vulnerable to hacking, loss of password, malware attack etc. that may also result in permanent loss of money.

There is a suspicion that some so-called cryptocurrencies and bitcoin investments may actually have nothing to do with any blockchain-developed virtual currency and are just new ways devised by scamsters to ride the wave and what they may be offering could be 'e-ponzi' schemes.

The ministry, along with the RBI and Sebi, is in the process of creating a framework to safeguard gullible investors and to clamp down on the fraudsters who may try to manipulate the regulatory gaps.

The users, holders and traders of VCs have already been cautioned three times, in December, 2013, February, 2017 and December, 2017, by Reserve Bank of India about the potential financial, operational, legal, customer protection and security related risks that they are exposing themselves to by investing in Bitcoin and/ or other VCs.

The Income Tax Department had recently conducted survey operations at major Bitcoin exchanges across the country on suspicion of alleged tax evasion. They said various teams of the sleuths of the department, under the command of the Bengaluru investigation wing, visited the premises of nine such exchanges in the country including in Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi and Gurugram.

 

Source: ET Online|Dec 29, 2017, 11.26 AM IST

 

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Bitcoin warning: Cryptocurrency profits to be TAXED

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Bitcoin warning: Cryptocurrency profits to be TAXED

Bitcoin warning: Cryptocurrency profits to be TAXED

BITCOIN will be taxed following a dizzying year of price rises and falls, industry experts have warned as the volatile cryptocurrency continues moving towards the mainstream.

With bitcoin’s price rising 1100 per cent over 2017 the HMRC has decided against creating new legislation to ensure the investment gains are taxed appropriately.

But experts have warned the cryptocurrency will not remain exempt from tax.

Benjamin Dives, CEO of London Block Exchange told Express.co.uk: “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. Cryptocurrency may be new and unique, but it is not exempt from tax liability.”

Mr Dives says individuals who profit from their Bitcoin investments will be required to pay capital gains tax – just like those who profit from the disposal of their stocks, shares and other investment instruments – through their annual self-assessment.

Profits from bitcoin price rises are subject to 20 per cent Capital Gains Tax – or 19 per cent Corporation Tax if it’s a company doing the trading. Everyone has a Capital Gains Tax free allowance of £11,300 per annum – any gains up to this amount are tax free.

But could bitcoin become a tool for tax evasion?

Richard Asquith, vice president of global indirect tax at Avalar told Express.co.uk: “It almost certainly already is, with either large amounts of undeclared gains on the current bubble or money laundering.”

However, Mr Asquith adds the disadvantage for fraudsters is the bitcoin public ledger systems makes it possible for law authorities to track down most of the crimes and criminals.

The other area that could be exploited according to Mr Asquith is payments made for household for services from small traders like plumbers, decorators and electricians and missing VAT and income tax returns will need to be monitored as the bitcoin technology goes mainstream.

So what fear is there for mass tax national tax evasion using bitcoin?

Daniele Bianchi, assistant professor of Finance at Warwick Business School, told Express.co.uk: “Other than the dark web, tax evasion and money laundering are the two main ways one could use Bitcoin to break the law.”

However, on Bitcoin becoming a major tool for tax evasion Mr Bianchi says it will be less and less appealing when it becomes a mainstream asset class, which is already happening.

Mr Dives, CEO of London Block Exchange adds the onus is on Cryptocurrency exchanges to bypass anonymity and comply with 'Know Your Customer' and 'Anti-Money Laundering' protocols, which are necessary in all traditional financial institutions.
 

He said: "Bitcoin can hide user’s identities but it is not fully anonymous. All other transaction details – such as time the transaction was made, amount sent and destination address – are recorded publicly on the blockchain and therefore all transfers made using Bitcoin can be traced back to specific wallet addresses.
 

“For this reason, Bitcoin is pseudonymous. This pseudonymity is appealing to users who value their privacy, but not enough for those who want to avoid taxes.”

 

 

Author DAVID DAWKINS

 

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

 

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 12/27/2017 – Rebound Underway?

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Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 12/27/2017 – Rebound Underway?

Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 12/27/2017 – Rebound Underway?

Bitcoin price is slowly starting to trend higher once more, possibly rebounding from the slide in the previous week.

Bitcoin Price Key Highlights

Bitcoin price appears to be recovering from its pre-Christmas slump, forming higher highs and higher lows again.

Price is trading inside an ascending channel pattern and is currently testing the resistance.

A pullback to support could be due and using the Fib retracement tool shows the potential inflection points.

Bitcoin price is slowly starting to trend higher once more, possibly rebounding from the slide in the previous week.
 

Technical Indicators Signals

The 100 SMA is still below the longer-term 200 SMA on this time frame, so the path of least resistance is to the downside. This means that the selloff is more likely to resume than reverse.

However, the gap is narrowing to signal weakening bearish momentum. If an upward crossover materializes, bullish pressure could kick into high gear and allow the uptrend to continue.

Stochastic is also on the move down, though, so buyers might be taking it easy. This could allow bitcoin price to retreat to the channel support at $14,000 near the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level. A shallow pullback could find a floor at the 38.2% Fib closer to $15,000 and the mid-channel area of interest.

RSI has plenty of room to head south, so bitcoin price might follow suit until both oscillators hit oversold levels and turn back up.

Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 12/27/2017 – Rebound Underway?

Market Factors

Analysts are attributing the recent climb to improved access to buying cryptocurrencies. However, Coinbase suffered a backlog of outgoing transactions earlier on and the issue remains unresolved.

“Due to high volume, we are experiencing a backlog of outgoing transactions for BTC and ETH. … Outgoing transactions of BTC and ETH may be delayed by several hours.”

Event risks involve additional network upgrades or “hard forks” but rising investor interest appears to have been enough to keep bitcoin price supported. After all, bitcoin futures on the CBOE and CME have allowed access to more institutional and retail investors

Still, the dollar could prove to be a worthy opponent as the signing of the tax bill into law would be very positive for the US economy.

 

Author Sarah Jenn 4:53 am December 27, 2017

 

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneeur
David ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Bitcoin could hit $60,000 in 2018 but another crash is coming, says startup exec

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Bitcoin could hit $60,000 in 2018 but another crash is coming, says startup exec

Bitcoin could hit $60,000 in 2018 but another crash is coming, says startup exec

  • Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Julian Hosp sees a "very, very healthy" chance to buy while the price is lower

  • No "crypto winter" is coming right now, Hosp predicts, but the market should see consolidation in coins in a year or two out

Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Julian Hosp says bitcoin's rapid rise isn't over yet. But there's a catch.

"I think we're going to see bitcoin hitting the $60,000 dollar mark, but I also think we're going to see bitcoin hitting the $5,000 dollar mark," said Hosp, co-founder and president of TenX, a firm that wants to make it easier for people to spend virtual currencies.

"The question is though, 'Which one is it going to hit first?'" he said.

Numerous high-profile critics and several national governments have warned of the dangers of investing in cryptocurrencies, which they say are likely to crash because nothing underpins their value.

Hosp's forecast would represent a $45,000 rally from the current price of bitcoin — or a $10,000 collapse, underscoring the volatility of the world's largest cryptocurrency.

An extremely volatile asset

After rallying to a record high above $19,800 midway through December, bitcoin prices collapsed last Friday. The digital currency lost a third of its value in a single day, briefly sinking below $11,000 before regaining some of the ground it lost.

Bitcoin traded at $15,185 on Tuesday, according to Coinbase.

"For experts that have been in the market, this was actually a welcome dip," Hosp told CNBC's "Squawk Box".

He said industry insiders had expected the price of bitcoin to fall, given the "dangerous" elevation of value that it has seen over the past few months.

"This dip for us was very, very healthy, and some of us have used it to buy a little bit more because suddenly we had 40-45 percent discount to all-time highs," he added.

Hosp said he's certain that bitcoin will fall again.

"Definitely," he said. "I don't think right now, but I think in the long run, we will always see a little bit of an up move, and then a dip down."

'Winter' is coming — eventually

Hosp likened the current interest in bitcoin to the dotcom bubble that started about 20 years ago, and warned that a consolidation of digital coins is likely to take place in the future.
 

"I don't think crypto winter is going to come in the next couple of months, but I think if we look down one to two years, there is definitely going to be a big compression in the market," he said.

"I don't think it's going to be a bubble that's just going to burst and everyone is going to lose their money, but I think it's going to be that all the coins and all the assets with very little use or value are going to get sorted out," he said.

"The money is going to flow into those assets in this cryptocurrency space that really deliver value, have new technology, and are being used by people," he added.

TenX charges fees for a wallet and card that are designed to make digital currencies more usable for transactions.

Hosp didn't share his thoughts on which cryptocurrency has the most longevity, but he did say that compression of the market will reduce their numbers.

"I see bitcoin more as digital gold," he said, "rather than a currency that is going to be used on a daily basis."

 

Author Dan Murphy Correspondent, CNBC

 

Posted by david Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Winklevoss twins cut up their Bitcoin key and keep the pieces in different bank vaults across America to protect their $1.3billion digital fortune

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Winklevoss twins cut up their Bitcoin key and keep the pieces in different bank vaults across America to protect their $1.3billion digital fortune

Winklevoss twins cut up their Bitcoin key and keep the pieces in different bank vaults across America to protect their $1.3billion digital fortune

  • Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, 36, started buying up Bitcoin back in 2012

  • They used $11m to buy roughly 120,000 Bitcoins when they were less than $10

  • The funds for Bitcoin came from the $65 million settlement they reached with Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg

  • Twins have cut up the keys to their digital fortune and keep each piece in bank vaults across American to protect their billions

The Winklevoss twins say they have cut up the key to their $1.3 billion Bitcoin fortune and keep each piece in various bank vaults across America in an elaborate attempt protect their assets.

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who are best known for suing Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg claiming he stole their idea for the social networking site, started buying up Bitcoin back in 2012.

They bought roughly 120,000 Bitcoins when they were less than $10 each using $11 million from the $65 million settlement they reached with Zuckerberg.

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, 36, say they have cut up the keys to their $1.3 billion Bitcoin fortune and keep each piece in differnet bank vaults across America

The two Harvard-educated were laughed at when they made the initial investment.

But they told the New York Times that they held onto their Bitcoins, and as a result have watched it soar in value recently.

'We've turned that laughter and ridicule into oxygen and wind at our back,' they said.

The twins say they aren't leaving anything to chance when it comes to protecting their digital fortune.

Given it is a digital currency, Bitcoin is kept in and address, or electronic 'wallet', that can only be accessed with the matching private key or password.

Anyone who can get access to that key can then take the Bitcoin.

The twins bought roughly 120,000 Bitcoins when they were less than $10 each using $11 million from the $65 million settlement they reached with Zuckerberg

The Winklevosses came up with a their own system to protect their keys.

They printed off their keys and cut them up into pieces before storing them in envelopes in safe deposit boxes across the US. If anyone happens to steal one envelope, the person would not have access to the entire private key.

The twins did try to create an ETF or an Exchange Traded Fund for the cryptocurrency, which would have opened it up to institutional investing.

That didn't happen as the US Securities and Exchange Commission rejected the application, citing the possibility of fraud.

The twins, who also competed as rowers in 2008 Beijing Olympics, still don't get close to their arch-nemesis Zuckerberg's net worth of $70 billion.

The twins, who are best known for suing Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg claiming he stole their idea for the social networking site, started buying up Bitcoin back in 2012

WHAT IS BITCOIN?

Bitcoin is a virtual currency, the first of a new form of money held only online that can be used either to spend like ‘cash’ or as an investment a little like a commodity such as gold.

Bitcoin, like other similar electronic currencies that have followed (Ethereum, Litecoin, Zcash and Dash), are stored online in a ‘digital wallet’ and then spent on goods and services. Alternatively, you can exchange it for a traditional currency such as sterling. This can be done using a special pre-payment card that converts the cryptocurrency when a purchase is made.

HOW DOES IT WORK – AND HOW DO YOU BUY IT?

When Bitcoin was invented in 2009, it was aimed at techies who ‘mined’ for it using ‘Blockchain’ technology. Blockchain allows transactions to be managed cheaply, securely and anonymously in a kind of devolved online ledger with records of transactions held on thousands of computers.

To release coins a ‘miner’ had to verify each transaction by solving a complex maths problem. But today, the Bitcoin revolution has extended beyond the techies and miners. Cryptocurrencies can now be purchased from specialist exchanges such as Coinbase, Kraken, Bittylicious and Bitstamp.

You can usually pay for the currency by credit or debit card or bank transfer. Exchanges are likely to make a charge for each purchase of cryptocurrency. For example, Coinbase charges 3.99 per cent for card purchases.

Oliver Isaacs, a technology investor and expert in cryptocurrencies, says: ‘You can send a currency to another person’s digital wallet so a Christmas present could be on the cards.’

WHY HAS BITCOIN’S VALUE BOOMED?

The number of Bitcoins in circulation will never exceed 21 million. About 16 million have already been ‘mined’. The limit was set by a mysterious coding genius with the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. This aims to ensure it will always have scarcity value.

The recent price rise – a nine-fold leap since the beginning of this year alone to $11,000 (£8,000) at one point last week for a single Bitcoin – is partly due to growing interest from institutional investors and hedge funds.

But it is possible to purchase as little as a one hundred millionth of a Bitcoin (0.00000001 Bitcoin) – called a Satoshi.

WHERE AND HOW TO SPEND IT

A number of online and physical shops accept Bitcoin – from pubs and florists to holiday booking websites and charities.

Shoppers can pay online or use an app on their phone. They need to set up a virtual wallet first to store their coins. This acts like a bank account for receiving or using virtual currency – but without any consumer protection. To find shops accepting the currency visit wheretospendbitcoins.co.uk.

SHOULD YOU BUY? 'One year's winner can be next year's loser'

Warnings abound that investors’ heated love affair with Bitcoin can only end in tears.

The number of boasts of fortunes made from Bitcoin should ring alarm bells. Remember the rapid rise in share prices ahead of the bursting of the technology bubble in 2000?

Some experts warn of a 30 per cent ‘correction’ in the Bitcoin price as soon as January. Others believe governments will clamp down because the secretive nature of these currencies makes them popular with criminals and also because they might undermine international currencies.

Justin Urquhart Stewart, of wealth manager Seven Investment Management, says: ‘Bitcoin’s relentless march has the hallmarks of an investment trap. Investing in something just because it has gone up has never been sensible. One year’s winner can all too easily become next year’s loser.’

But he is attracted to the technology behind the currency. He adds: ‘Blockchain is more than a mechanism for moving money. It is about secure control of data and information. It could also be used in industries beyond financial services such as retail, healthcare and real estate.’

Patrick Connolly, of financial adviser Chase de Vere, is nervous of the hype over an investment that is neither regulated nor offers consumer protection.

He says: ‘We are not recommending any Bitcoin investments to our clients. Many people are investing without understanding the risks.’

Benjamin Dives of start-up London Block Exchange says: ‘If you are looking to invest you really need to do your homework.’

 

Author: Emily Crane For Dailymail.com 17:25, 24 December 2017 |

 

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

 

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

What Comes After the Futures – The Next Chapter for Bitcoin

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What Comes After the Futures - The Next Chapter for Bitcoin

What Comes After the Futures – The Next Chapter for Bitcoin

A Coindesk 2017 Review

On the ninth anniversary of Satoshi Nakamoto's white paper, one of the world's most respected derivatives providers, the CME Group, announced it would launch a regulated bitcoin futures market.

Not to be understated, this was a pivotal moment in bitcoin's history, and quite simply, the future has never been brighter.

It's safe to say that 2017 has been a remarkable year. Almost every single metric of adoption has shown signs of exponential growth: exchange users, wallet downloads, social media chatter, Google search trends, trading volumes, transactions per day, etc.

The price has moved hand-in-hand with these metrics, and bitcoin has reached more people than ever before.

Yet, many of the existing trading platforms have been struggling to stay online 24/7. (Even the CBOE website went down as it launched its bitcoin futures market.) In the majority of cases, these outages are not due to denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks, but the sheer volume of organic traffic.

And with this interest, the futures markets are effectively embedding bitcoin into the traditional regulated markets, adding legitimacy for those that doubted its longevity or who still believe it is a fraud (See: Jamie Dimon). Nevertheless, some bitcoin advocates take issue with the seal of approval from Wall Street.

Author Andreas Antonopoulos has said:

"I am uniquely allergic to the word 'legitimacy,' it makes me want to vomit when warmongering, war profiteering bankers use it to describe bitcoin. That takes a lot of audacity."

And it does seem there's reason to suggest Wall Street isn't directly behind this year's growth.

On March 10th, the Bats BZX exchange had its bitcoin ETF application denied by the SEC due to the unregulated and illiquid nature of bitcoin markets. The decision marked the end of a three-year journey for investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who had long sought to bring such a product to market.

Bitcoin has faced many regulatory challenges in its history, most at the hands of regulators: the LedgerX ETF denial, Chinese regulators halting zero-fee trading and ultimately closing all exchanges.

However, the market capitalization of bitcoin has risen from $20 billion to well over $300 billion in the nine months since those developments.

Fueling the fire

That's not to say that Wall Street isn't bringing new interest to the market – far from it.

The futures markets have shown that investors want to gain exposure to bitcoin in a regulated manner without having to store the underlying asset. For the average investor, there's a lot of risk is involved with holding bitcoin and this is represented by the significant premiums.

But, aside from the pushing up the price and generating media coverage, the futures market will have profound effects on bitcoin.

Increasing demand will likely lead to more futures markets and creating greater volumes over time. There are currently over 15 applications pending for new ETFs, the volume is coming and to quote Antonopoulos again, there is a long way to go:

"When you watch a trader eat a sandwich while he presses enter on a $10 billion trade, you realize how small this game is. We are going to have a lot of volume and that's not bad, in fact that is the first step to reducing volatility."

The 2017 bull run combined with scaling tension has led to a sustained increase in bitcoin volatility over 2017, breaking the five-year down trend.

The regulated futures markets and potential ETFs may be the antidote; deepening liquidity, closing the spreads and reducing the volatility, all of which will contribute to greater market efficiency, price discovery and ultimately ensure bitcoin will be a better store of value and medium of exchange.

Knowledge is Power

But regardless of the tempting volatility, no sophisticated traders will jump into bitcoin without arming themselves with knowledge. It takes a time and breadth of disciplines to understand bitcoin and its many intricacies – as well as a little bit of faith.

To that end, the "education" phase is well underway, in fact the CFTC (Commodities Futures Trading Commission) launched an online information portal days prior to the bitcoin futures launch. Its aim is to educate the public on digital commodities.

This period of research and analysis will have many positive externalities ranging from more effective regulation to greater capital allocation efficiency within the crypto economy. So far, investing within the bitcoin ecosystem has largely been haphazard. Almost every single bitcoin company has underperformed against bitcoin itself.

A greater understanding of bitcoin will foster an ecosystem that allocates capital with greater efficacy, creating the value feedback loop more prevalent in cryptocurrencies such as ethereum.

Every healthy futures market needs a mixture of speculators and hedgers that hold the underlying assets. Typically for markets run by CME, this may be farmers looking to lock in the price of their harvests by short selling contracts of wheat, corn, etc.

Today, the bitcoin futures market is mostly comprised of speculators, and there is a lack of natural sellers as most traders would have to naked short (short without holding bitcoin). At Interactive Brokers, precautions are so great you need five times the collateral to make a trade. For a contract of $100,000, a trader would need $500,000 as margin.

To quote Richard Heart:

"The history of bitcoin is shorts getting rekt, constantly."

Revving up

Still, the ability to hedge the price of bitcoin alters the risk profile of other parts of the industry, particularly mining.

Expect more risk-averse companies to venture into mining industry. After announcing they would start mining the top 10 cryptocurrencies Digital Power Corp. saw a stock appreciation of 750 percent. Digital Power are not alone and numerous tech companies are jumping aboard the mining bandwagon.

With the ability to short sell bitcoin to "lock in" mining profits, these companies can do so with drastically reduced risk. For companies like Digital Power, instruments that provide shorting on indices will be invaluable. If this trend continues, Western mining corporations could start to chip away at the currently centralized mining hash power, with 80 percent of it residing in China.

But, it will take time for volumes to build and spreads to close as only a limited number of sophisticated investors are currently capable of carrying out the risky cash and carry arbitrage. No doubt that uncertainties surrounding forking, scaling and regulation will make bitcoin’s journey to an efficient market bumpy.

The most interesting part of bitcoin's rise to the regulated economy is that it took eight years of clamor, belief and HODLing.

To be sure, though, there's more hard work ahead.

 

Author Charles Hayter Dec 23, 2017 at 23:00 UTC

 

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Bitcoin slump sees trades suspended on certain exchanges

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Bitcoin slump sees trades suspended on certain exchanges

Bitcoin slump sees trades suspended on certain exchanges

Bitcoin plunged on Friday, extending a fall that saw the crypto-currency lose almost a third of its value from a record of nearly $20,000 (£15,000).

The crypto-currency's price dipped below $11,000 on Friday, according to the Coindesk exchange website, before recovering to above $13,000.

Amid the swings, three Bitcoin-related exchanges suspended certain trades.

Bitcoin has had a blistering trip over the past 12 months. Its price at the start of the year was about $1,000.

It has skyrocketed since – more than doubling in value since November – drawing interest from major firms as well as private investors.

But since Sunday Bitcoin has been on a losing streak, falling back to where it was at the start of December.

Analysts said investors should be prepared for such rapid changes, which have characterised the asset from its start.

"This is exactly how this asset trades and has done since the beginning," said Nick Colas, co-founder of New York-based DataTrek Research. "It has a lot of volatility and it will for the foreseeable future."

What happened on Friday?

This week's plunge led to a flood of trades that swamped one of Bitcoin's major exchanges, Coinbase, on Friday. A technical slowdown prompted the firm to halt buying and selling twice.

The CME and CBOE exchanges in the US also temporarily suspended trading of certain Bitcoin futures contracts, which allow investors to bet on where they expect the price of Bitcoin to be at certain points in the future.

The exchanges have automatic brakes that apply once a commodity or asset has moved by a certain amount – as happened in this case.

What sparked the slump?

The market remains driven by sentiment, according to Charles Hayter, founder and chief executive of industry website Cryptocompare.

"A manic upward swing led by the herd will be followed by a downturn as the emotional sentiment changes," he said.

Some traders would have been cashing in on the spectacular gains made over the year, he added.

Concerns about the infrastructure behind crypto-assets may also be spooking investors, said Nick Colas, himself a Bitcoin trader.

In recent weeks, markets have been rattled by hacks and allegations of insider trading.

He attributes some of this week's slump to the launch of a new crypto-asset that came earlier than planned. The surprise temporary shutdown of Coinbase on Friday was the kind of thing that could erode investor confidence, he argued.

"It is not OK to just take trading offline randomly through the day," he said. "The robustness of that system is just as important to their confidence… as the price of crypto-currencies themselves."

A spokesman for Coinbase said the firm was working around the clock to ensure smooth trading. Friday's suspensions lasted for about two hours in total.

"We're doing everything within our power," the spokesman said.

What exactly is Bitcoin?

A digital asset, Bitcoin is not backed by any governments. It is created through a complex process known as "mining", and then monitored by a network of computers across the world.

There is a steady stream of about 3,600 new Bitcoins a day, with more than 16.5 million now in circulation. Supply is expected to peak at about 21 million.

Every single transaction is recorded in a public list called the blockchain.

This makes it possible to trace the history of Bitcoins to stop people from spending coins they do not own, making copies or undoing transactions.

What are authorities saying about Bitcoin?

Regulators around the world have stepped up their warnings about its provenance as an investment.

One of this week's most striking comments came from Denmark's central bank governor, who called it a "deadly" gamble.

Earlier this month, the head of one of the UK's leading financial regulators warned people to be ready to "lose all their money" if they invested in Bitcoin.

Andrew Bailey, head of the Financial Conduct Authority, told the BBC that neither central banks nor the government stood behind the "currency" and therefore it was not a secure investment.

Despite the risk to individuals, US authorities have said they do not think it is a big enough part of financial markets to be a threat to broader economic stability.

 

Source BBC News

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 12/22/2017 – Bears Settling In

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Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 12/22/2017 – Bears Settling In

Bitcoin price is trending lower on its 1-hour time frame and might be due for a pullback to the area of interest at $16,000.

Bitcoin Price Key Highlights

  • Bitcoin price continues to trend lower and has just dipped below the $13,500 mark.

  • Price seems to be drawing some support from this area, though, probably making its way up for a correction.

  • Applying the Fib retracement tool shows the nearby inflection points that might serve as resistance.

  • Bitcoin price is trending lower on its 1-hour time frame and might be due for a pullback to the area of interest at $16,000.

Technical Indicators Signals

The 100 SMA is below the longer-term 200 SMA to confirm that the path of least resistance is to the downside. This means that the selloff is more likely to resume than to reverse.

The 61.8% Fib is closest to the falling trend line resistance that’s been holding for the past few days. It also coincides with the broken support at the $16,000 longer-term area of interest.

The 38.2% Fib is near the $15,000 psychological level which might also contain plenty of sell orders. The 50% Fib is located at $15,285.

Stochastic is pulling up from oversold territory to reflect a pickup in buying pressure that could allow the correction to stay in play for a while. RSI is also pulling up so bitcoin price might follow suit.

Market Factors

The persistent slide in bitcoin price has probably been leading traders to liquidate their positions before the year comes to a close. The euphoria over the launch of bitcoin futures has faded after all, and there are no major catalysts that could spring another rally.

Then again, there are a few network upgrades scheduled all the way until March next year and this would still likely leave bitcoin stronger than ever. However, issues pertaining to bitcoin trading manipulation have eroded confidence in the cryptocurrency somewhat.

Meanwhile, the dollar remains strongly supported by tax reform progress as the government is on track towards implementing corporate tax cuts soon. This would be very positive for businesses and consumers, thereby upping the chances of seeing more Fed rate hikes next year.

 

Author Sarah Jenn 5:31 am December 22, 2017

 

Posteds by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member