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Showing posts from January 11, 2021

MLB Team Washington Nationals Partners With Terra Blockchain Community, Ballpark Plans to Accept UST

On February 9, the American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C., the Washington Nationals, announced the team has partnered with Terra, the open-source blockchain platform and decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). The Washington Nationals detail that the team is a “leading innovator” and is “consistently introducing new technologies to enhance the fan experience.” Washington Nationals Ink Long-Term Deal With Terra Major League Baseball (MLB) team the Washington Nationals has partnered with the blockchain platform and DAO Terra, according to an announcement published by the team on Wednesday. The deal with Terra follows a slew of sports-related deals with crypto firms, but the MLB team will be the first to partner with an open-source blockchain project. In addition to the partnership, the algorithmic stablecoin UST that’s issued on the Terra blockchain will be “accepted as a payment method at Nationals Park as early as next season.” “The Nationals continue t...
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UK Government Asks Crypto Industry to Provide Insights on Its Regulatory Approach

Her Majesty’s Treasury in the U.K. issued a document that details a series of proposals addressing the crypto community. With the consultation, the Treasury is initiating a “regulatory approach to cryptoassets and stablecoins” for 2021 following the Brexit turmoil. Special Focus on Stablecoins Regulation According to the official announcement , the consultation mainly targets stablecoins to gather investments and wholesale uses. The HM Treasury expects to collect insights from the “industry and stakeholders” in the crypto sphere until March 21, 2021. In 2018, the British government launched a cross-authority taskforce to assess the impact of a “rapidly developing cryptoasset market” in the economy. With such motivation, the HM Treasury wants to “ensure its regulatory framework is equipped to harness the benefits of new technologies, supporting innovation and competition, while mitigating risks to consumers and stability.” The Treasury explains in the document why they put a spec...
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Bitcoin.com Exchange Announces Public Sale of the IDEA Token on January 26, 2021

PRESS RELEASE. January 12, 2021 – Bitcoin.com Exchange , one of the leading authorities in cryptocurrency exchanges announces the details of the upcoming public sale of the Ideaology Token (IDEA) . Ideaology consists of a freelance platform which will accommodate most of the personnel needed to develop projects. The platform’s mission is to provide a host of freelancers and entrepreneurs with job options, a digital marketplace allowing platform users to sell or buy digital assets and services, as well as: Share materials and experiences. An Idea launchpad. A collection of innovative and inventive individuals, to establish a creative colony for introducing and launching revolutionary ideas. A funding base of individuals and enterprises interested in supporting new projects, whether through direct partnerships, or through crowdfunding options available on the platform. Ideaology is creating a unique collaborative digital community and a fertile environment for the future of bu...
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Bullish or bearish? PayPal hosts $242M in crypto trading over 24 hours

Daily crypto volume on payments giant PayPal have surged to record highs above $240 million. Global payments provider PayPal has doubled its previous crypto volume record, with $242 million worth of digital assets changing hands on the platform during Jan. 11. According to crypto market data aggregator Nomics, yesterday’s trading dwarfed PayPal’s previous volume record of $129 million recorded on Jan. 6. Since Jan. 1, daily volume has increased by 950% from $22.8. With the spike in PayPal’s volume coming amid Bitcoin’s rally into new all-time highs, the U.S.-based payments firm appears to be gathering popularity among retail traders. Nuggets News’ Alex Saunders asserted the spike in PayPal’s volume is a likely sign of increasing adoption among retail traders, tweeting: “retail has arrived.” Retail has arrived. @PayPal cleared $242M in crypto sales yesterday. That's nearly double the previous record. ✅ #Bitcoin #Ethereum #BullMarket pic.twitter.com/dnoPlADhla — Alex Saun...
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Blockstream expands Liquid Federation, but LBTC adoption remains slow

Six prominent crypto firms have joined the federation governing Blockstream's Liquid sidechain. Blockstream has added six more members to the federation that governs Liquid, the firm's Bitcoin sidechain for inter-exchange settlement network. The six new Liquid Federation members include Bitcoin web wallet Coinos, crypto custodian Komainu, network privacy firm Nym, blockchain development company Vulpem Ventures, broker Watchdog Capital, and Liquid Network settlement platform Sideswap. The #LiquidNetwork Federation grows to a total of 59 with six new members announced today. The six new members are @coinoswallet , Komainu, @nymproject , @side_swap , @vulpemventures , and @WatchdogCapital . https://t.co/QkluG8ivIh pic.twitter.com/CudS30Xyjv — Liquid Network (@Liquid_BTC) January 11, 2021 Liquid was announced at the end of 2015 as a Bitcoin sidechain designed to speed up Bitcoin transactions settlement for crypto exchanges. Liquid supports LBTC tokens that are pegged to ...
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EToro slammed for short-notice halt to BTC margin trading amid ATH price surge

eToro is taking heat after calling in margin trades at the peak of Bitcoin’s record rally. A Wall Street Journal report published Jan. 12 claims European eToro users were given just four hours notice that the platform's margin trading services would be halted on Friday. EToro users were informed they must increase their margin collateral to 100% in an email sent at 4:46 UTC on Jan. 8. The platform closed the contracts of any European crypto trader who didn’t bolster their margin collateral to 100% by 9:00 PM. When the firm called in the margin trades, the users’ crypto was automatically converted into U.S. dollars. Amy Butler, an eToro spokeswoman, said “most traders were in the black” when the margin positions were called, with Bitcoin’s price approaching $42,000 at the time. However, Fordham University law professor, Jurij Toplak, warned of the future profits that eToro users seeking leveraged crypto products will miss out on, stating : “There’s a lot of loss here for the...
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JP Morgan Warns of Falling BTC Price With Bitcoin ETF Approval in US

JP Morgan’s analysts say that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approving a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) is likely negative for bitcoin in the near term. There is optimism around the prospect of the SEC approving a bitcoin ETF under new leadership, the analysts say. SEC Approving Bitcoin ETF Could Be Negative JP Morgan published a report on Friday that discusses the impact of an SEC-approved bitcoin ETF on the bitcoin market. “Optimism around the prospect of the SEC approving a bitcoin ETF in the US this year has risen in anticipation of SEC leadership changes ,” the analysts wrote, stating: The approval of a bitcoin ETF in the US this year would likely be negative for bitcoin in the near term. The analysts, including strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, proceeded to explain why they are forecasting a negative outlook. “The reason is a potential decline in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) premium to NAV [net asset value] from the introduction of bitcoin ET...
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Analysts say Bitcoin price drop to $30K was ‘healthy and necessary’

The total cryptocurrency market cap fell by more than $200 billion as Bitcoin price dropped to $30,229 and altcoins correctly sharply. The euphoria in the cryptocurrency market was quelled on Jan.11 as the majority of altcoins saw their prices decline by more than 20% as Bitcoin price sold off sharply.  After falling below the $40,000 support level on Jan. 10, selling pressure for Bitcoin ( BTC ) increased overnight and pushed the price of the top cryptocurrency as low as $30,229 before a soft support level was reached. The rapid decline in price led to more than $2.7 billion worth of futures contracts being liquidated and the long candles on the Bitcoin price chart show that the cascade of liquidations occurred quickly as the price dropped from $41,000 to $32,229. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban used the market downturn as no opportunity to point out that the cryptocurrency market is identical to the internet sto...
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Profit taking? Institutional crypto fund inflows drop 97% in three weeks

CoinShares has reported “evidence of potential profit taking” among institutional investors, as weekly crypto fund inflows drop 97% in less than one month. Capital inflows into crypto funds and investment products plummeted during the first week of January after posting new all-time highs in late-December. According to crypto fund manager CoinShares’ Jan. 11 Digital Asset Fund Flows report , the first week of trading in the new year saw just $29 million flow into institutional crypto products. That's a greater than 97% decline from the $1.09 billion invested during the week before Christmas. Volumes are likely to have been dampened by traders taking holidays over the new year. However the firm also notes that December’s surging inflows have been followed by recent “evidence of potential profit taking,” with multiple crypto investment products recording weekly outflows in early January.  As of Jan. 8, CoinShares estimated that $34.4 billion in capital was held in crypto investm...
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Central Washington Raises Concerns Over Possible Bitcoin Mining Boom

A region in the Pacific Northwest of the United States is on high alert because of concerns about a possible invasion of bitcoin ( BTC ) miners. The state has previously experienced an influx of Chinese bitcoin miners, due to decreasing electricity prices. Bitcoin Bull-Run Could Revive Interest in Mining, Officials Warn Per the Seattle Times , bitcoin’s bull-run is putting the public utility districts (PUD) in Central Washington on high alert, monitoring for suspiciously high power bills. PUD officials claim crypto miners from China have come to the region to take advantage of its low hydroelectricity prices. Such developments worry the Columbia River Basin authorities because the “2017-2018 mining boom could happen again.” Although electricity prices have been increased to combat mining, authorities believe new bitcoin miners could still establish themselves in the state. So far the authorities haven’t seen an increase in commercial mining, however, the PUDs still brace for a ret...
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XRP tumbles despite former Amazon exec joining Ripple as engineering lead

“Ripple’s all-star engineering team continues to grow,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said of the firm’s new senior VP. Amid legal action from the SEC, Ripple has brought in fresh blood from Amazon to lead its engineering team. In a statement released today, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced that former Amazon vice president of delivery experience, Devraj Varadhan, has joined Ripple as its new senior vice president of engineering. Ripple’s all-star engineering team continues to grow – thrilled to welcome Dev as our new SVP of Engineering! https://t.co/OH5ceDOX4K — Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) January 11, 2021 Varadhan has 15 years’ experience at Amazon, where he worked on software development for more than a decade prior to becoming VP of delivery experience. He also spent two years developing cloud and enterprise software with Microsoft. With Ripple, Varadhan plans to place an emphasis on building “architecturally sound systems aligned with customer and business n...
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Hold your horses! $9K Bitcoin price drop not a trend change, data says

Traders are freaking out about today’s 27% Bitcoin price drop but historical data show sharp corrections are natural even during bull markets. After Bitcoin ( BTC ) price flirted with a $42,000 all-time high on Jan. 8, it stabilized in a tightening range between $39,000 to $41,500 for two days and the pennant structure on the shorter-term timeframes hinted that a breakout to $45,000 was a possibility.  This all changed quite suddenly Jan. 10 as the $39,000 support failed to hold and Bitcoin price entered a steep correction. BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView A swirling and cruel 26.6% drop took BTC down to $30,100 over the next 30 hours and $1.5 billion in cascading liquidations at derivatives exchanges boosted the correction. Interestingly, this occurred just as the open interest on BTC futures reached a $12.7 billion all-time high. Derivatives exchanges BTC futures open interest in USD. Source: Bybt.com Today’s price action presents a story of doom, gloom and li...
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Bitcoin hit by $2.7 billion futures liquidation frenzy: What happens next?

After a massive cascade of liquidations, Bitcoin price could be heading towards recovery, based on network fundamentals. Over $2.7 billion worth of futures contracts got liquidated in the last 24 hours, based on data from Bybt.com. This caused the price of Bitcoin ( BTC ) to see a large drop in a short time frame as it plunged from over $41,000 to sub-$32,600. BTC/USDT 4-hour price chart (Binance). Source: TradingView.com Why would mass liquidations cause Bitcoin to drop? In the futures market, liquidations of positions occur because traders are borrowing additional capital to trade with larger positions. For example, exchanges in the Bitcoin futures market typically offer up to 100x leverage. This allows traders to borrow 100 times of their initial capital to trade BTC. The downside of leverage is that when the price of Bitcoin sees a minor drop, it can cause a position to get liquidated, or be worthless. Liquidated long on XBTUSD: Sell 1,235,411 @ 34710.5 ~ Multi kill ~ If...
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Reddit User Finds 127 Old Bitcoins at Grandpa’s House – Pockets Over $4 Million After Selling

A Reddit user says he (or she) recently regained access to the keys of 127 bitcoins eight years after last accessing the coins. Immediately after regaining access, the user sold all the bitcoins and pocketed over $4 million in the process. According to the user, they received the bitcoins as payment for participating in surveys and some random online tasks. Bitcoin Keys in Old Computer The user initally intended to purchase a valuable in-game currency called Uridium using the bitcoins as payment. Writing about their experience, the user who goes by the name Bitcoinholderthanku, explains how a visit to his grandparents’ home reunited him (or her) with the 127 bitcoins. In the post, the Reddit user begins his account saying: I used to play Dark Orbit at my grandpa’s house, and I was there for around a week during the holidays. While I was there I was through his old Dell computer that I used to play the game and came across a .txt folder that was labelled ‘keys.’ Although the use...
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IOTA blockchain used to track COVID-19 test results at Frankfurt Airport

Ubrich GmbH is providing a solution using IOTA to the Frankfurt Airport Corona Testing Center. Early on in the pandemic, the heightened need for various biosurveillance measures sparked interest in the relevance of privacy-enhancing technologies such as blockchain that could protect public health data amid the crisis.  An individual Twitter user claimed last week that Frankfurt Airport's Corona testing center appeared to be using IOTA blockchain technology to manage passengers' health stat, and this fact has now been confirmed to Cointelegraph by the technology provider. Ubirch, a blockchain-based cybersecurity technology provider based in Cologne and several other locations, has developed the IT infrastructure for a solution it calls the "Digital Corona Test Certificate." The solution supports verification of an individual's SARS-CoV-2 status while remaining compliant with European data protection standards under the GDPR framework. An Ubirch representative ...
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Bitcoin whales are profiting as 'weak hands' sell BTC throughout $40K bull run

High or low, Bitcoin is still being shaken out of small investors and flowing to "millionaire" wallets, data confirms this week. Bitcoin ( BTC ) is changing hands fast after its drop to $32,000 and only millionaires are winning, data shows. Statistics governing wallet balances from Glassnode on Jan. 11 reveal that the main investors “buying the dip” are those with a balance in excess of 1,000 BTC ($36 million). "Millionaire" wallets keep growing Compiled by Elias Simos, protocol specialist at blockchain infrastructure provider Bison Trails, the numbers suggest that the wealthy have been profiting from Bitcoin being sold by smaller investors throughout December and January. “Addresses with more than 1k $BTC continue growing at the expense of all others–even as this most recent downturn is taking effect,” Simos summarized. “While you were selling, whales were gobbling up your Bitcoin…” While the number of wallets with smaller balances decreased as BTC/USD cli...
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State-owned Chinese bank rolls out ATMs for digital yuan

The Agricultural Bank of China has launched an ATM pilot program that enables citizens to convert cash and savings to and from the digital yuan. China’s efforts to develop a centrally-issued digital currency took a leap forward on Sunday as the state-owned Agricultural Bank of China launched the first digital yuan ATMs. Customers at select branches within the Shenzen region have reportedly begun spending and converting the digital yuan they received as part of China’s “red envelope” lottery , which saw $3 million worth of the new currency gifted to 100,000 local citizens. The ATMs reportedly allow the deposit and withdrawal of digital yuan via a smartphone app and allow users to convert cash and savings to and from the central bank digital currency. The Agricultural Bank of China is one of the country’s “big-four” state-owned banks, which collectively represent the four largest banking institutions in the world. Manager of the bank’s Digital Yuan Innovation Lab, Zou Hua, said the...
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South Korean gaming conglomerate Nexon denies plans to acquire Bithumb

Reports last week had claimed that Nexon was poised to acquire the exchange at an evaluated price of roughly $460 million. Major gaming conglomerate Nexon will not be acquiring leading South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb, as previously alleged  in local media . In an email to Cointelegraph, a representative for Nexon said that the firm "has not invested in Bithumb and has no plans to acquire that company." The email clarified that claims to the contrary had resulted from "an inaccurate news account last week." "We cannot comment on the investment plans of other companies," the representative added. The prospective sale of the exchange has reportedly been on the agenda since late August 2020, with preliminary bidding ostensibly held in September. Yet the process, if underway, appears to be complicated by the  ongoing police investigation involving Lee Jung Hoon , chairman of board at Bithumb Korea and Bithumb Holdings. A parallel investigation into a ...
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BTC price eyes 30% correction: 5 things to watch in Bitcoin this week

A strengthening dollar combines with profit-taking by miners to create a "short-term bearish" environment for Bitcoin. Bitcoin ( BTC ) heads into a new week after another weekend of major volatility — but this time, the way was down, not up.  As the market loses $7,000 — the most since the “vertical” price rises began — Cointelegraph presents five things which could keep it moving in the coming days. BTC dip makes Guggenheim want to sell Top on the list of topics among Bitcoiners will be the cryptocurrency’s sudden fall over Saturday and Sunday. From highs of near $42,000, BTC/USD faced a sell-off out of hours, with bears driving down the pair to current local lows of $32,300. The drop is the most this year and since the Coronavirus caused a cross-asset crash in March 2020, but was widely predicted by analysts, who argued that Bitcoin had become overextended. “#Bitcoin crashes >10%: The worst Bitcoin plunge since March is reminiscent of the last halving cycle in 20...
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FCA warns of crypto investment risks as Bitcoin dives below $33K

The Financial Conduct Authority has warned the public about crypto investment as Bitcoin dove below $33,000. The United Kingdom's financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, has posted a warning about cryptocurrency investment amid a major crash on crypto markets. In a Jan. 11 statement , the FCA said that crypto investment and lending are associated with a high level of risk, stressing that investors should be ready to lose all their money while investing in crypto. Citing a number of risks including price volatility, product complexity, and charges and fees, the FCA said that investors are taking charge of crypto-associated risks: “Consumers should be aware of the risks and fully consider whether investing in high-return investments based on cryptoassets is appropriate for them. They should check and carefully consider the cryptoasset business involved.” The regulator also stated that crypto investors are unlikely to have access to major consumer protection instit...
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