Cardano Foundation Joins Global Digital Finance, Will World Towards Standardizing Crypto
Cardano Foundation announced on Thursday that it had joined the London based organization, Global Digital Finance (GDF). The move will allow Cardano to contribute towards building global governance and standardizing crypto policies.
In the official blog on the website, Cardano’s global PR Communications and Marketing Director, Bakyt Azimkanov stated that the organization went through a rigorous assessment process by GDF before being selected as a member of the industry membership body.
The collaboration between the Cardano Foundation and GDF will strengthen ongoing efforts to create best practices and sound governance policies. Effective policies will help the crypto asset market further develop through establishing robust codes of conduct for the sector amid increasing importance of ethics in the blockchain and DLT industry.
Cardano Foundation and its native token Cardano (ADA) was created by former Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson, who has been quite vocal about the irregularities in the blockchain industry. A couple of months ago, he severely criticized Ethereum and EOS for not being truly decentralized. Hoskinson recently revealed the expansion plans for the platform and stated that it could even beat Facebook in terms of reach in emerging markets.
Azimkanov further added,
The Cardano Foundation became a member of a number of GDF working groups—Custody, KYC/AML/CTF, Stablecoin, Security Token, Market Integrity, and Tax Treatments—thus, contributing to the improvement of market and conduct standards for the crypto asset and digital finance participants.
Cardano Foundation announced on Thursday that it had joined the London based organization, Global Digital Finance (GDF). The move will allow Cardano to contribute towards building global governance and standardizing crypto policies.
In the official blog on the website, Cardano’s global PR Communications and Marketing Director, Bakyt Azimkanov stated that the organization went through a rigorous assessment process by GDF before being selected as a member of the industry membership body.
The collaboration between the Cardano Foundation and GDF will strengthen ongoing efforts to create best practices and sound governance policies. Effective policies will help the crypto asset market further develop through establishing robust codes of conduct for the sector amid increasing importance of ethics in the blockchain and DLT industry.
Cardano Foundation and its native token Cardano (ADA) was created by former Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson, who has been quite vocal about the irregularities in the blockchain industry. A couple of months ago, he severely criticized Ethereum and EOS for not being truly decentralized. Hoskinson recently revealed the expansion plans for the platform and stated that it could even beat Facebook in terms of reach in emerging markets.
Azimkanov further added,
The Cardano Foundation became a member of a number of GDF working groups—Custody, KYC/AML/CTF, Stablecoin, Security Token, Market Integrity, and Tax Treatments—thus, contributing to the improvement of market and conduct standards for the crypto asset and digital finance participants.
US Posts The Most On BTC And Facebook’s Crypto Libra, Finds Twitter Study
According to the new research, the United States has emerged as a leader when it comes to tweeting about digital currencies Bitcoin as well as Facebook’s soon-to-be-released crypto Libra. The study has been published in a series of tweets by The Tie, a powerful platform for crypto traders based in USA’s New York, on Twitter on 3rd July 2019.
As per the study, out of the total Bitcoin tweets from across the globe, 38.9 percent came from the US while the United Kingdom recorded 10.5 percent of Bitcoin tweets which lands the country at the second spot. Apart from the US and the UK, the list of top 5 nations with the maximum number of Bitcoin tweets include Canada, Turkey, India, and Australia.
In addition to the number of tweets related to the leading cryptocurrency, The Tie study also explored the sentiment behind those tweets, analyzing whether the tweets talked about Bitcoin in a positive way or a negative manner. It was then determined that among the nations representing a minimum of 0.5 percent of all the total BTC tweets, Peru stood first in positively talking about the crypto. The 2nd and 3rd spots were taken by Malaysia and Indonesia while the 4th and 5th spots were respectively held by Vietnam and Italy.
On the other hand, maximum BTC tweets with negative tone to them came from Venezuela, 62% of the total tweets. The other four spots in the top 5 nations posting negative Bitcoin tweets were held by Mexico, Estonia, Brazil, and Ireland, from the 2nd to 5th positions. Venezuela posting negative tweets on Bitcoin comes as surprising as the nation, of late, has been coming across as crypto curious due to the recent and massive crisis regarding its national currency.
Divulging more insights on the tweet sentiment, the study found that the US has been extremely positive. It has 61.5 percent of Bitcoin tweets showing the crypto in a favorable light. As far as the global percentage is concerned, out of the total tweets, 59.8 percent were positive.
To provide a better idea, The Tie also shared a map titled as ‘Bitcoin Global Sentiment Map’ mapping the average positive and/or negative tendencies among the countries.
Other than Bitcoin, The Tie took the time to research which countries tweeted the most about Facebook’s ambitious cryptocurrency Libra along with the sentiment behind those tweets. Here again, the US tops the list with 43.8 percent of the total tweets on Libra. The United Kingdom stands second in the list followed by France, Canada, and Australia.
Interestingly, the study found 54.8 percent of Libra tweets to be negative on 3rd July while originally the posts on Libra tended ‘to be more positive.’ The UK, however, grabs the top spot when it comes to tweeting about Libra coins positively. Tweets coming from France and the US tend ‘to be much less positive’ may be as the nations are going through the regulatory pushback, stated the study.
According to the new research, the United States has emerged as a leader when it comes to tweeting about digital currencies Bitcoin as well as Facebook’s soon-to-be-released crypto Libra. The study has been published in a series of tweets by The Tie, a powerful platform for crypto traders based in USA’s New York, on Twitter on 3rd July 2019.
As per the study, out of the total Bitcoin tweets from across the globe, 38.9 percent came from the US while the United Kingdom recorded 10.5 percent of Bitcoin tweets which lands the country at the second spot. Apart from the US and the UK, the list of top 5 nations with the maximum number of Bitcoin tweets include Canada, Turkey, India, and Australia.
In addition to the number of tweets related to the leading cryptocurrency, The Tie study also explored the sentiment behind those tweets, analyzing whether the tweets talked about Bitcoin in a positive way or a negative manner. It was then determined that among the nations representing a minimum of 0.5 percent of all the total BTC tweets, Peru stood first in positively talking about the crypto. The 2nd and 3rd spots were taken by Malaysia and Indonesia while the 4th and 5th spots were respectively held by Vietnam and Italy.
On the other hand, maximum BTC tweets with negative tone to them came from Venezuela, 62% of the total tweets. The other four spots in the top 5 nations posting negative Bitcoin tweets were held by Mexico, Estonia, Brazil, and Ireland, from the 2nd to 5th positions. Venezuela posting negative tweets on Bitcoin comes as surprising as the nation, of late, has been coming across as crypto curious due to the recent and massive crisis regarding its national currency.
Divulging more insights on the tweet sentiment, the study found that the US has been extremely positive. It has 61.5 percent of Bitcoin tweets showing the crypto in a favorable light. As far as the global percentage is concerned, out of the total tweets, 59.8 percent were positive.
To provide a better idea, The Tie also shared a map titled as ‘Bitcoin Global Sentiment Map’ mapping the average positive and/or negative tendencies among the countries.
Other than Bitcoin, The Tie took the time to research which countries tweeted the most about Facebook’s ambitious cryptocurrency Libra along with the sentiment behind those tweets. Here again, the US tops the list with 43.8 percent of the total tweets on Libra. The United Kingdom stands second in the list followed by France, Canada, and Australia.
Interestingly, the study found 54.8 percent of Libra tweets to be negative on 3rd July while originally the posts on Libra tended ‘to be more positive.’ The UK, however, grabs the top spot when it comes to tweeting about Libra coins positively. Tweets coming from France and the US tend ‘to be much less positive’ may be as the nations are going through the regulatory pushback, stated the study.
Best of Crypto Volatility: ‘80% Correction’ or ‘New Parabola’
As the crypto market is showing positive signs again an the entire cryptoverse tries to guess on bitcoin’s next move, legendary trader and technical analyst Peter Brandt shared his view that reminds how volatile this market can be.
In a tweet on Sunday, the analyst said that he sees two possible outcomes for bitcoin price in the near-term. According to Brandt, the number one cryptocurrency could either go into “an 80% correction” or a “new parabola,” referencing the parabolic uptrend has already taken bitcoin from around USD 3,200 to a high of almost USD 14,000 this year.
Brandt also pointed out the formation of a possible inverse head-and-shoulder pattern in the bitcoin chart, which could lead to even more bullishness for bitcoin. However, bitcoin’s price has so far failed to follow through with a complete pattern, making it less useful as a predictor for future moves.
In technical analysis, head-and-shoulder is a classic chart pattern that indicates reversal from an uptrend to a downtrend. When the pattern is inversed (upside down), it suggests a move to an uptrend, and that higher prices will follow.
Also, in addition to his call for bitcoin’s next move, Brandt caused controversy within the cryptoverse after saying that volatility is a serious problem for “cryptomaniacs” and their “mass adoption narrative.”
“What fantasy world would adopt an asset as a store-of-value, transactional medium & measure of safety with such wild swings,” Brandt asked.
As pointed out by bitcoin newsletter editor Marty Bent, however, volatility is just what should be expected for a brand-new asset class like cryptocurrencies. To think otherwise is “stupid,” he noted.
As the crypto market is showing positive signs again an the entire cryptoverse tries to guess on bitcoin’s next move, legendary trader and technical analyst Peter Brandt shared his view that reminds how volatile this market can be.
In a tweet on Sunday, the analyst said that he sees two possible outcomes for bitcoin price in the near-term. According to Brandt, the number one cryptocurrency could either go into “an 80% correction” or a “new parabola,” referencing the parabolic uptrend has already taken bitcoin from around USD 3,200 to a high of almost USD 14,000 this year.
Brandt also pointed out the formation of a possible inverse head-and-shoulder pattern in the bitcoin chart, which could lead to even more bullishness for bitcoin. However, bitcoin’s price has so far failed to follow through with a complete pattern, making it less useful as a predictor for future moves.
In technical analysis, head-and-shoulder is a classic chart pattern that indicates reversal from an uptrend to a downtrend. When the pattern is inversed (upside down), it suggests a move to an uptrend, and that higher prices will follow.
Also, in addition to his call for bitcoin’s next move, Brandt caused controversy within the cryptoverse after saying that volatility is a serious problem for “cryptomaniacs” and their “mass adoption narrative.”
“What fantasy world would adopt an asset as a store-of-value, transactional medium & measure of safety with such wild swings,” Brandt asked.
As pointed out by bitcoin newsletter editor Marty Bent, however, volatility is just what should be expected for a brand-new asset class like cryptocurrencies. To think otherwise is “stupid,” he noted.
Good News Failed to Cushion CELR and BTT Price Drop
Despite some expected but still positive news coming the way of Celer Network (CELR) and BitTorrent (BTT), the prices of both tokens continue to drop.
Celer Network announced the launch alpha-mainnet, Cygnus in yesterday’s Twitter post. In their Medium post, Celer Network explains that this is their first step towards “the world’s first Generalized State Channel Network”, beginning with Ethereum. They claim that the network will open up a new dimension of blockchain layer-2 scalability “with real-time and zero-fee interaction, instant micro payments and low-latency interoperability for decentralized Apps.” They will be giving their users a platform for blockchain-based apps, starting with games. The goal is for the users, to develop skills while playing games and earning crypto in Cygnus’s gaming hub, CelerX. “We are empowering the developer communities to build skill-based mobile games which they can monetize with CelerX eSport Gaming SDK”, the post explains.
Not only was Cygnus launch announced, but a few hours later, the partnership with a decentralized organization with Dai stablecoin, MakerDAO, to enable instant micropayments for gamers and developers.
And while many congratulated them on the Cygnus launch, others were not as satisfied, worried about the falling price of CELR. Indeed, looking at the past week, a steady drop is obvious, starting with July 3rd. Since then, until the moment of writing, the price of CELR fell by 23.46%.
BitTorrent speed fall
Meanwhile, it was announced yesterday that BitTorrent, a communication protocol for peer-to-peer technology sharing of files on the Internet, announced the release of BitTorrent Speed, a software that rewards users’ content sharing with BTT tokens, introduced on the official website as “the first case of blockchain mass adoption.” BitTorrent Speed will be integrated into new downloads of µTorrent Classic Windows client, and the download speed is expected to improve. Download optimization will vary, stands in the release, “depending on the number of people using the file and the number bidding with tokens.”
BitTorrent is controlled by the Tron blockchain project. In the press release, founder of Tron and CEO of BitTorrent, Justin Sun stated that "Tron has completed early integration work of its two decentralized networks - Tron and BitTorrent - with the launch of BitTorrent Speed," that they expect amazing feedback from early users, and that they will be adding more features to improve customer experience.
However, a rather steep decline is noticeable in BTT’s price, starting with July 7th, dropping by 12.56% until the moment of writing. It’s unknown if the drop could’ve been affected by the criticism Sun received over Tron’s alleged association to a scam, or yesterday’s fake news claiming that police raided the Beijing Tron offices, which affected the price of Tron’s native token, TRX.
BTT trades at c. USD 0.00129 and is down by almost 6% in the past 24 hours.
Despite some expected but still positive news coming the way of Celer Network (CELR) and BitTorrent (BTT), the prices of both tokens continue to drop.
Celer Network announced the launch alpha-mainnet, Cygnus in yesterday’s Twitter post. In their Medium post, Celer Network explains that this is their first step towards “the world’s first Generalized State Channel Network”, beginning with Ethereum. They claim that the network will open up a new dimension of blockchain layer-2 scalability “with real-time and zero-fee interaction, instant micro payments and low-latency interoperability for decentralized Apps.” They will be giving their users a platform for blockchain-based apps, starting with games. The goal is for the users, to develop skills while playing games and earning crypto in Cygnus’s gaming hub, CelerX. “We are empowering the developer communities to build skill-based mobile games which they can monetize with CelerX eSport Gaming SDK”, the post explains.
Not only was Cygnus launch announced, but a few hours later, the partnership with a decentralized organization with Dai stablecoin, MakerDAO, to enable instant micropayments for gamers and developers.
And while many congratulated them on the Cygnus launch, others were not as satisfied, worried about the falling price of CELR. Indeed, looking at the past week, a steady drop is obvious, starting with July 3rd. Since then, until the moment of writing, the price of CELR fell by 23.46%.
BitTorrent speed fall
Meanwhile, it was announced yesterday that BitTorrent, a communication protocol for peer-to-peer technology sharing of files on the Internet, announced the release of BitTorrent Speed, a software that rewards users’ content sharing with BTT tokens, introduced on the official website as “the first case of blockchain mass adoption.” BitTorrent Speed will be integrated into new downloads of µTorrent Classic Windows client, and the download speed is expected to improve. Download optimization will vary, stands in the release, “depending on the number of people using the file and the number bidding with tokens.”
BitTorrent is controlled by the Tron blockchain project. In the press release, founder of Tron and CEO of BitTorrent, Justin Sun stated that "Tron has completed early integration work of its two decentralized networks - Tron and BitTorrent - with the launch of BitTorrent Speed," that they expect amazing feedback from early users, and that they will be adding more features to improve customer experience.
However, a rather steep decline is noticeable in BTT’s price, starting with July 7th, dropping by 12.56% until the moment of writing. It’s unknown if the drop could’ve been affected by the criticism Sun received over Tron’s alleged association to a scam, or yesterday’s fake news claiming that police raided the Beijing Tron offices, which affected the price of Tron’s native token, TRX.
BTT trades at c. USD 0.00129 and is down by almost 6% in the past 24 hours.
SEC & FINRA Explain Rules for Crypto Brokers
Two of America’s top financial regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) have announced that brokers looking to offer cryptocurrency securities will have to comply with existing securities laws, including customer protection rules – but appear to need more time to decide whether they will approve cryptocurrency-related company applications to become authorized broker-dealers.
In a joint SEC-FINRA statement, the regulators stated,
“The requirements of the Customer Protection Rule have produced a nearly 50-year track record of recovery for investors when their broker-dealers have failed. […] This record of protecting customer assets held in custody by broker-dealers stands in contrast to recent reports of cybertheft, and underscores the need to ensure broker-dealers robust protection of customer assets, including [cryptocurrency] securities.”
On the rule in question, the regulators specified, “Rule 15c3-3 requires a broker-dealer to physically hold customers’ fully paid and excess margin securities or maintain them free of lien at a good control location.”
Interestingly, the regulators seem to have suggested in the statement that they consider over-the-counter (OTC) trading, whereby brokers do not have custody of the digital asset securities, as lower-risk. This would mean such OTC trading would not require high levels of scrutiny.
The statement’s authors wrote,
“[An] example [of noncustodial activities involving [cryptocurrency] securities do not raise the same level of concern] is where a broker-dealer facilitates OTC secondary market transactions in [cryptocurrency] securities without taking custody of or exercising control over the [cryptocurrency] securities. In this example, the buyer and seller complete the transaction directly and, therefore, the securities do not pass through the broker-dealer facilitating the transaction.”
Reuters quotes Matt Comstock of Washington-based law firm Murphy&McGonigle, a specialist in fintech-related matters, as saying the statement shows the SEC “would view cryptocurrency securities as uncertificated securities.”
Two of America’s top financial regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) have announced that brokers looking to offer cryptocurrency securities will have to comply with existing securities laws, including customer protection rules – but appear to need more time to decide whether they will approve cryptocurrency-related company applications to become authorized broker-dealers.
In a joint SEC-FINRA statement, the regulators stated,
“The requirements of the Customer Protection Rule have produced a nearly 50-year track record of recovery for investors when their broker-dealers have failed. […] This record of protecting customer assets held in custody by broker-dealers stands in contrast to recent reports of cybertheft, and underscores the need to ensure broker-dealers robust protection of customer assets, including [cryptocurrency] securities.”
On the rule in question, the regulators specified, “Rule 15c3-3 requires a broker-dealer to physically hold customers’ fully paid and excess margin securities or maintain them free of lien at a good control location.”
Interestingly, the regulators seem to have suggested in the statement that they consider over-the-counter (OTC) trading, whereby brokers do not have custody of the digital asset securities, as lower-risk. This would mean such OTC trading would not require high levels of scrutiny.
The statement’s authors wrote,
“[An] example [of noncustodial activities involving [cryptocurrency] securities do not raise the same level of concern] is where a broker-dealer facilitates OTC secondary market transactions in [cryptocurrency] securities without taking custody of or exercising control over the [cryptocurrency] securities. In this example, the buyer and seller complete the transaction directly and, therefore, the securities do not pass through the broker-dealer facilitating the transaction.”
Reuters quotes Matt Comstock of Washington-based law firm Murphy&McGonigle, a specialist in fintech-related matters, as saying the statement shows the SEC “would view cryptocurrency securities as uncertificated securities.”
Donald Trump: Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies aren’t money
The US president said he’s not a fan of Facebook’s Libra, and demands digital coin companies seek a banking charter
Donald Trump has criticized Bitcoin, Facebook’s proposed Libra digital coin and other cryptocurrencies and demanded that companies seek a banking charter and make themselves subject to US and global regulations if they wanted to “become a bank”.
“I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
“If Facebook and other companies want to become a bank, they must seek a new Banking Charter and become subject to all Banking Regulations, just like other Banks, both National and International,” he added.
Facebook, the White House, the Federal Reserve and the treasury department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump’s comments come one day after the Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, told lawmakers that Facebook’s plan to build a digital currency called Libra cannot move forward unless it addresses concerns over privacy, money laundering, consumer protection and financial stability.
Powell said the Fed has established a working group to follow the project and is coordinating with other government’s central banks. The US Financial Stability Oversight Council, a panel of regulators that identifies risks to the financial system, is also expected to make a review.
Facebook announced last month it would launch its global cryptocurrency in 2020. Facebook and 28 partners, including Mastercard Inc, PayPal Holdings Inc and Uber Technologies Inc, would form the Libra Association to govern the new coin. No banks are currently part of the group.
JPMorgan Chase & Co, the largest US bank by assets, plans to launch its own digital coins.
The US president said he’s not a fan of Facebook’s Libra, and demands digital coin companies seek a banking charter
Donald Trump has criticized Bitcoin, Facebook’s proposed Libra digital coin and other cryptocurrencies and demanded that companies seek a banking charter and make themselves subject to US and global regulations if they wanted to “become a bank”.
“I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
“If Facebook and other companies want to become a bank, they must seek a new Banking Charter and become subject to all Banking Regulations, just like other Banks, both National and International,” he added.
Facebook, the White House, the Federal Reserve and the treasury department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump’s comments come one day after the Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, told lawmakers that Facebook’s plan to build a digital currency called Libra cannot move forward unless it addresses concerns over privacy, money laundering, consumer protection and financial stability.
Powell said the Fed has established a working group to follow the project and is coordinating with other government’s central banks. The US Financial Stability Oversight Council, a panel of regulators that identifies risks to the financial system, is also expected to make a review.
Facebook announced last month it would launch its global cryptocurrency in 2020. Facebook and 28 partners, including Mastercard Inc, PayPal Holdings Inc and Uber Technologies Inc, would form the Libra Association to govern the new coin. No banks are currently part of the group.
JPMorgan Chase & Co, the largest US bank by assets, plans to launch its own digital coins.
Binance Destroys $26 Million Worth of Its Team’s BNB Tokens
Binance, the world’s top exchange by trading volume, says it has completed the eight quarterly “burn” of Binance coin (BNB) tokens.
The exchange posted Friday that the burn – the industry term for destroying tokens – comes in accordance with its white paper and involved 808,888 BNB previously allocated to the Binance team.
“Starting with this burn, Binance will relinquish the BNB tokens allocated to the Binance team and contribute this BNB towards our commitment to burning a total of 100 million BNB,” said the exchange.
Binance indicated that the team’s 80,000,000 BNB allocated tokens make up 40 percent of the total BNB supply.
In a blog post on the burn, the firm said the tokens had been allocated to “reward to the work they have put into building the Binance ecosystem.”
“The eventual total supply of BNB will still be 100,000,000 BNB. The current total supply of BNB is 189,000,000 BNB, which means that 89,000,000 BNB still need to be burned,” said the firm.
Binance, the world’s top exchange by trading volume, says it has completed the eight quarterly “burn” of Binance coin (BNB) tokens.
The exchange posted Friday that the burn – the industry term for destroying tokens – comes in accordance with its white paper and involved 808,888 BNB previously allocated to the Binance team.
“Starting with this burn, Binance will relinquish the BNB tokens allocated to the Binance team and contribute this BNB towards our commitment to burning a total of 100 million BNB,” said the exchange.
Binance indicated that the team’s 80,000,000 BNB allocated tokens make up 40 percent of the total BNB supply.
In a blog post on the burn, the firm said the tokens had been allocated to “reward to the work they have put into building the Binance ecosystem.”
“The eventual total supply of BNB will still be 100,000,000 BNB. The current total supply of BNB is 189,000,000 BNB, which means that 89,000,000 BNB still need to be burned,” said the firm.
Hackers Stole $32 Million Worth of Crypto from BITPoint
In yet another incident of massive crypto theft, BITPoint has reportedly been robbed of around $32 million worth of cryptocurrency. The investigators who are investigating this fraud have found that hackers got access to the BITPoint system for around 12 hours and in that period, this whole cryptocurrency fraud was executed. The parent company of the BITPoint announced on Friday that hackers stole cryptocurrency worth $32 million from its account in the intervening night of Thursday and Friday. Scammers hacked the system in the Thursday evening and till the Friday morning, the access to the system remains with hackers, providing them more than enough time to execute this scam. Among the cryptocurrencies stolen, Ripple and Bitcoin are the prominent names although, in total, five different types of cryptocurrencies were stolen by fraudsters.
In-depth Details
According to the Yoshinori Hashimoto, an expert in the field of online security, the theft involved a transfer of the cryptocurrencies worth $9 million on the Thursday at 9:00 pm. Just so you know, Hashimoto focused only on the transfer of Bitcoin by hackers. Over the period of the next 12 hours, more digital assets were transferred to accounts of hackers and according to the estimate; Bitcoin worth $25 million was lost by BITPoint in this theft.
An important observation from the Hashimoto points towards laxity on the part of BITPoint. According to the Hashimoto, half of this loss could be averted BITPoint taken a proactive approach and stopped all the transactions once it detected the abnormality in the transactions. The company identified that the transactions were abnormally large in terms of volume of cryptocurrencies involved and at that point, the company should have stopped all these transactions. Another important point for cryptocurrency exchanges is to keep in mind that the online system is very much prone to hacking and despite all the safety measures, exchanges, as well as the users, must be very careful all the time during transaction time. There is a need to have a proactive safety mechanism which should detect a transaction involving a large volume of crypto and automatically snap such transactions if some abnormality is detected.
Implications
The implications of these kinds of incidents are far-fetched. Thinking that its effect will remain confined only to users of BITOint is not right as the overall repercussions will go beyond and have a negative impact on the whole crypto industry. Not only investors will lose their confidence, but also the general public will continue to remain skeptical about whether they should adopt the digital coins or not. Therefore, it is the larger responsibility of all the stakeholders in the crypto universe to work towards a safe and secure cryptocurrency trading experience. Both a high degree of safety measures and advanced level of proactive behavior are required to stop the crypto frauds and theft incidents. Policymakers too need to contribute to making the whole cryptocurrency experience safer by putting out stringent rules and regulations regarding the operating procedure related to cryptocurrency exchanges. Before permitting to exchange is to carry out the business, they must be tested for a high degree of deterrence against forgery and fraud cases.
In yet another incident of massive crypto theft, BITPoint has reportedly been robbed of around $32 million worth of cryptocurrency. The investigators who are investigating this fraud have found that hackers got access to the BITPoint system for around 12 hours and in that period, this whole cryptocurrency fraud was executed. The parent company of the BITPoint announced on Friday that hackers stole cryptocurrency worth $32 million from its account in the intervening night of Thursday and Friday. Scammers hacked the system in the Thursday evening and till the Friday morning, the access to the system remains with hackers, providing them more than enough time to execute this scam. Among the cryptocurrencies stolen, Ripple and Bitcoin are the prominent names although, in total, five different types of cryptocurrencies were stolen by fraudsters.
In-depth Details
According to the Yoshinori Hashimoto, an expert in the field of online security, the theft involved a transfer of the cryptocurrencies worth $9 million on the Thursday at 9:00 pm. Just so you know, Hashimoto focused only on the transfer of Bitcoin by hackers. Over the period of the next 12 hours, more digital assets were transferred to accounts of hackers and according to the estimate; Bitcoin worth $25 million was lost by BITPoint in this theft.
An important observation from the Hashimoto points towards laxity on the part of BITPoint. According to the Hashimoto, half of this loss could be averted BITPoint taken a proactive approach and stopped all the transactions once it detected the abnormality in the transactions. The company identified that the transactions were abnormally large in terms of volume of cryptocurrencies involved and at that point, the company should have stopped all these transactions. Another important point for cryptocurrency exchanges is to keep in mind that the online system is very much prone to hacking and despite all the safety measures, exchanges, as well as the users, must be very careful all the time during transaction time. There is a need to have a proactive safety mechanism which should detect a transaction involving a large volume of crypto and automatically snap such transactions if some abnormality is detected.
Implications
The implications of these kinds of incidents are far-fetched. Thinking that its effect will remain confined only to users of BITOint is not right as the overall repercussions will go beyond and have a negative impact on the whole crypto industry. Not only investors will lose their confidence, but also the general public will continue to remain skeptical about whether they should adopt the digital coins or not. Therefore, it is the larger responsibility of all the stakeholders in the crypto universe to work towards a safe and secure cryptocurrency trading experience. Both a high degree of safety measures and advanced level of proactive behavior are required to stop the crypto frauds and theft incidents. Policymakers too need to contribute to making the whole cryptocurrency experience safer by putting out stringent rules and regulations regarding the operating procedure related to cryptocurrency exchanges. Before permitting to exchange is to carry out the business, they must be tested for a high degree of deterrence against forgery and fraud cases.
China Might Permit WeChat To Come Up With Cryptocurrency
The impending launch of Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency is seemingly having many implications on both economic and political fronts around the globe. Especially this development is seen with utmost interest among the business circles in China and the strained relationship with the US and the country is also one factor behind this unnerving excitement. The launch of the Facebook stablecoin is sure to make China’s envy about having its own cryptocurrency, which could be based on its digital payment platforms.
Finer Details
Fuelling speculations is the report in South China Morning Post which divulged details about the possibility of China getting its first sanctioned cryptocurrency almost around 2 years after the country officially banned all digital coins. The People Bank of China (PBoC) is reportedly looking into the intricacies of providing such permission and if it happens, WeChat is considered to be the strongest contenders to take the initiative and jumpstart the crypto revolution in the country. WeChat owned by Tencent is the most popular social media platform in China and also offers the convenience of digital payments. Its popularity can be assessed by the fact that on a global scale, WeChat has around 1.1 billion monthly active users, while Facebook leads the pack with 2.3 billion active users.
Reason behind Change of Heart
Chinese authorities are concerned that even if a fraction of Facebook users start using its Libra cryptocurrency, then it could certainly undermine the economic and monetary policy of the country, its financial stability, and in larger terms, the sovereignty of China. These concerns were expressed by Wang Xin, who is the director of the research arm of the Central Bank of China. Xin was speaking at a conference hosted by the Institute of Digital Finance, Peking University when he expressed all these doubts.
Just so you know, WeChat already deals in the digital payments although the medium of transaction is Yuan (Chinese Fiat currency) only. The company operates these digital payment services under the name WeChat Pay and the service was first started in the year 2013. Till now, roundabout 900 milling users are using WeChat Pay to digital transfer their money. Along with China, WeChat Pay is growing quite significantly around the world, although some research reports suggest that the payment system is utilized mostly by Chinese Travelers and expats. The primary rival to WeChat Pay is Alipay, which is a part of the Chinese Alibaba group.
Libra and Policy Framework
The Libra project of Facebook has got Chinese authorities in action as the government is now looking for the ways to come out with proper cryptocurrency regulations rather than outrightly banning it, the move it undertook two years ago and was criticized by the many crypto enthusiasts. The main opposition of the government is the fact that companies like Facebook, WeChat, etc. if successfully implemented their digital coin projects then it might lead to undermining of the rules and regulations set by the government. In a sense, these companies will act like sovereign nations having their own economic ecosystem supported by their currency. This is something Chinese government surely wants to avoid and even if, it goes ahead with the permission for WeChat or AliPay for having their own digital currency, we will witness heavy regulations around their digital projects.
The impending launch of Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency is seemingly having many implications on both economic and political fronts around the globe. Especially this development is seen with utmost interest among the business circles in China and the strained relationship with the US and the country is also one factor behind this unnerving excitement. The launch of the Facebook stablecoin is sure to make China’s envy about having its own cryptocurrency, which could be based on its digital payment platforms.
Finer Details
Fuelling speculations is the report in South China Morning Post which divulged details about the possibility of China getting its first sanctioned cryptocurrency almost around 2 years after the country officially banned all digital coins. The People Bank of China (PBoC) is reportedly looking into the intricacies of providing such permission and if it happens, WeChat is considered to be the strongest contenders to take the initiative and jumpstart the crypto revolution in the country. WeChat owned by Tencent is the most popular social media platform in China and also offers the convenience of digital payments. Its popularity can be assessed by the fact that on a global scale, WeChat has around 1.1 billion monthly active users, while Facebook leads the pack with 2.3 billion active users.
Reason behind Change of Heart
Chinese authorities are concerned that even if a fraction of Facebook users start using its Libra cryptocurrency, then it could certainly undermine the economic and monetary policy of the country, its financial stability, and in larger terms, the sovereignty of China. These concerns were expressed by Wang Xin, who is the director of the research arm of the Central Bank of China. Xin was speaking at a conference hosted by the Institute of Digital Finance, Peking University when he expressed all these doubts.
Just so you know, WeChat already deals in the digital payments although the medium of transaction is Yuan (Chinese Fiat currency) only. The company operates these digital payment services under the name WeChat Pay and the service was first started in the year 2013. Till now, roundabout 900 milling users are using WeChat Pay to digital transfer their money. Along with China, WeChat Pay is growing quite significantly around the world, although some research reports suggest that the payment system is utilized mostly by Chinese Travelers and expats. The primary rival to WeChat Pay is Alipay, which is a part of the Chinese Alibaba group.
Libra and Policy Framework
The Libra project of Facebook has got Chinese authorities in action as the government is now looking for the ways to come out with proper cryptocurrency regulations rather than outrightly banning it, the move it undertook two years ago and was criticized by the many crypto enthusiasts. The main opposition of the government is the fact that companies like Facebook, WeChat, etc. if successfully implemented their digital coin projects then it might lead to undermining of the rules and regulations set by the government. In a sense, these companies will act like sovereign nations having their own economic ecosystem supported by their currency. This is something Chinese government surely wants to avoid and even if, it goes ahead with the permission for WeChat or AliPay for having their own digital currency, we will witness heavy regulations around their digital projects.
TRON Introduces TRONClass to Make Masses Aware of Its Ecosystem
TRON never fails to keep the crypto community glued. Now, it has gone a step further to reach out to even those who are new entrants in the crypto world. In a recent announcement on Twitter dated 14th July 2019, the CEO of TRON, Justin Sun has announced a small workshop referred to as TRONClass. This class will be immensely helpful to all those who want to dig deeper about TRON, its technologies, tokens, as well as varied terms related to the blockchain technology.
The tweet was accompanied by a video which was the first TRONClass. The 26-seconds video lesson explains what TRX (TRON’s native token) is in a language which is easy-to-understand. At the time of writing, it had already garnered more than 26 thousand views within a span of just 21 hours. TRON will continue providing such concise, informational, and substantial videos on various topics and terminology to make the right information available to all those who want or need it, hassle-freely.
For those who have just entered the crypto space, the blockchain project of TRON was established in the year 2017 by Justin Sun. The project is dedicated to truly establishing a decentralized web and its infrastructure. That’s because completely decentralizing the web would allow the content creators to directly offer their content to consumers minus any intermediaries or central authorities who monetize their work and only share a certain percentage with the content creators.
Last year, TRON successfully acquired the BitTorrent network along with all its product offerings. These are now incorporated into the ecosystem of TRON. BitTorrent is known as the biggest decentralized Peer-to-Peer network in the world. It has a massive user base which goes over 170 million on a monthly basis. Merging with BitTorrent will help TRON achieve its mission while considerably boosting its user base. With their native token BTT (BitTorrent), BitTorrent aims to tokenize the biggest decentralized file-sharing protocol of the world. In simple terms, it will incentivize its user base to share their bandwidth and content.
While writing, TRON’s TRX which is the 11th largest crypto across the globe, was being traded at $0.024789, as per CoinMarketCap data.
TRON never fails to keep the crypto community glued. Now, it has gone a step further to reach out to even those who are new entrants in the crypto world. In a recent announcement on Twitter dated 14th July 2019, the CEO of TRON, Justin Sun has announced a small workshop referred to as TRONClass. This class will be immensely helpful to all those who want to dig deeper about TRON, its technologies, tokens, as well as varied terms related to the blockchain technology.
The tweet was accompanied by a video which was the first TRONClass. The 26-seconds video lesson explains what TRX (TRON’s native token) is in a language which is easy-to-understand. At the time of writing, it had already garnered more than 26 thousand views within a span of just 21 hours. TRON will continue providing such concise, informational, and substantial videos on various topics and terminology to make the right information available to all those who want or need it, hassle-freely.
For those who have just entered the crypto space, the blockchain project of TRON was established in the year 2017 by Justin Sun. The project is dedicated to truly establishing a decentralized web and its infrastructure. That’s because completely decentralizing the web would allow the content creators to directly offer their content to consumers minus any intermediaries or central authorities who monetize their work and only share a certain percentage with the content creators.
Last year, TRON successfully acquired the BitTorrent network along with all its product offerings. These are now incorporated into the ecosystem of TRON. BitTorrent is known as the biggest decentralized Peer-to-Peer network in the world. It has a massive user base which goes over 170 million on a monthly basis. Merging with BitTorrent will help TRON achieve its mission while considerably boosting its user base. With their native token BTT (BitTorrent), BitTorrent aims to tokenize the biggest decentralized file-sharing protocol of the world. In simple terms, it will incentivize its user base to share their bandwidth and content.
While writing, TRON’s TRX which is the 11th largest crypto across the globe, was being traded at $0.024789, as per CoinMarketCap data.
Experts Continue To Predict Strong Growth Despite Market Downfall After Trump’s Bitcoin Comments
Crypto market got its biggest shock in a long time when US President Donald Trump jumped into the crypto war, criticizing Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. He accused Bitcoin of helping anti-social activities like drug trafficking. The big guns of crypto fraternity took no time and reacted to Trump’s comments, some inviting him to understand crypto, while others, like John McAfee, took the not-so-subtle routes.
However, the market is at a downfall ever since Trump made the remarks, though experts are asking investors to ignore the fluctuations. In fact, the Bitcoin declined for the third consecutive day on Sunday, with prices falling to a monthly low of $10,234. John McAfee, the famous crypto promoter and computer scientist, has asked people not worry and stated that he is pretty sure of his claim about Bitcoin touching $1 million by the end of 2020. He also indicated in another tweet that privacy-focused coins have a bright future.
In an interview on Saturday, another major crypto influencer and Head of Research at Fund start Global Advisors, and Tom Lee predicted that Trump’s remarks could actually trigger a bull run. He stated that the President’s remarks are in fact a big positive for the markets, because the intervention, first by the Fed and then by the Congress and the President, indicates that Bitcoin and crypto are something substantial and noteworthy. Lee further added,
Bitcoin is now trading at a level that it’s only seen 3% of its historical days. If you go back to every milestone that that was achieved, Bitcoin subsequently rallied somewhere between 200% to 400% within the next four months, so I think if that’s playing out this time that means Bitcoin could be $20,000 to $40,000 sometime in the fourth quarter.
Another positive prediction came from Brain Armstrong, co-founder and chief of Coinbase, the world’s leading crypto exchange. In a tweet, he stated that Trump’s comments are in fact, a big achievement for the industry and said that he wished that a US President would talk about the growing crypto. He also quoted Mahatma Gandhi’s famous quote, “First they ignore you, and then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Confusion For The Investors, What Should They Do?
Even though all the big guns predict a big bull coming, the market seems to have responded negatively to Trump’s remark with the decline in three days. Does this mean that winter is approaching? Not yet. So, will bulls come roaring? Doesn’t seem so!
So what should an investor do? The best thing that an investor can do at the moment is to hold their investments. Be patient, the market has seen similar fluctuations in last month’s ending days and again picked up smoothly. In the recent past, a vast majority of industry experts have predicted that Bitcoin will at least break its all-time high of $20,000 by the end of this year, which still seems to be a possibility, while some have predicted $40,000 and $100,000 as well!
Though it cannot be denied completely that the current decline is due to Trump’s remarks, there’s a big possibility that this is just a regular adjustment before a higher-level stabilization. Also, the future of crypto is said to be on large scale adoption, which is happening outside America. For instance, countries like Russia, Venezuela, Georgia, and a few others in Europe are ready to permit regularized crypto trade, which is a big boost. If these countries accept it, the US market will lose its relevance for crypto companies.
Crypto market got its biggest shock in a long time when US President Donald Trump jumped into the crypto war, criticizing Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. He accused Bitcoin of helping anti-social activities like drug trafficking. The big guns of crypto fraternity took no time and reacted to Trump’s comments, some inviting him to understand crypto, while others, like John McAfee, took the not-so-subtle routes.
However, the market is at a downfall ever since Trump made the remarks, though experts are asking investors to ignore the fluctuations. In fact, the Bitcoin declined for the third consecutive day on Sunday, with prices falling to a monthly low of $10,234. John McAfee, the famous crypto promoter and computer scientist, has asked people not worry and stated that he is pretty sure of his claim about Bitcoin touching $1 million by the end of 2020. He also indicated in another tweet that privacy-focused coins have a bright future.
In an interview on Saturday, another major crypto influencer and Head of Research at Fund start Global Advisors, and Tom Lee predicted that Trump’s remarks could actually trigger a bull run. He stated that the President’s remarks are in fact a big positive for the markets, because the intervention, first by the Fed and then by the Congress and the President, indicates that Bitcoin and crypto are something substantial and noteworthy. Lee further added,
Bitcoin is now trading at a level that it’s only seen 3% of its historical days. If you go back to every milestone that that was achieved, Bitcoin subsequently rallied somewhere between 200% to 400% within the next four months, so I think if that’s playing out this time that means Bitcoin could be $20,000 to $40,000 sometime in the fourth quarter.
Another positive prediction came from Brain Armstrong, co-founder and chief of Coinbase, the world’s leading crypto exchange. In a tweet, he stated that Trump’s comments are in fact, a big achievement for the industry and said that he wished that a US President would talk about the growing crypto. He also quoted Mahatma Gandhi’s famous quote, “First they ignore you, and then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Confusion For The Investors, What Should They Do?
Even though all the big guns predict a big bull coming, the market seems to have responded negatively to Trump’s remark with the decline in three days. Does this mean that winter is approaching? Not yet. So, will bulls come roaring? Doesn’t seem so!
So what should an investor do? The best thing that an investor can do at the moment is to hold their investments. Be patient, the market has seen similar fluctuations in last month’s ending days and again picked up smoothly. In the recent past, a vast majority of industry experts have predicted that Bitcoin will at least break its all-time high of $20,000 by the end of this year, which still seems to be a possibility, while some have predicted $40,000 and $100,000 as well!
Though it cannot be denied completely that the current decline is due to Trump’s remarks, there’s a big possibility that this is just a regular adjustment before a higher-level stabilization. Also, the future of crypto is said to be on large scale adoption, which is happening outside America. For instance, countries like Russia, Venezuela, Georgia, and a few others in Europe are ready to permit regularized crypto trade, which is a big boost. If these countries accept it, the US market will lose its relevance for crypto companies.
Amazon And Uber Must Use Cryptocurrencies Like XRP; Says Ripple CTO, David Schwartz
Ripple has been one of the most active crypto projects globally, and the company has been pushing harder for expanding adoption. One such effort was apparent at the recently concluded WeAreDevelopers Conference in Berlin, Germany.
Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer David Schwartz, in his speech, advised giants like Amazon and Uber that they should use digital currencies like XRP. Schwartz stated that companies like Amazon, Seagate, Airbnb, or Uber make a large number of small payments to thousands of merchants around the world. He said, These merchants need efficient and reliable daily payments to meet ends, which they don’t regularly get, despite these giants employing a large number of people in their payments department.
The best way to tackle this, Schwartz suggests, is to use cryptocurrencies for making payments to merchants. He added,
“We came up with what’s technically a form of federated Byzantine agreement that we call consensus that’s faster and cheaper than proof-of-work. And the result is that XRP is a decentralized digital asset not connected to any jurisdiction, that moves more quickly and more cheaply than Bitcoin. And I would argue that it’s also more censorship-resistant and has some of the decentralization properties that we want. And that’s resulted in low cost, low fees and high transaction volume with low latency.”
Schwartz argued that Ripple is one of the most formidable crypto payment networks in the world, and unlike SWIFT or PayPal, is decentralized with no central intervention. This makes Ripple absolutely apt for both big companies and their partner merchants, as it reduces payment times, maintains transparency, and cost-effective.
Ripple has partnerships and collaborations with over 200 companies across the globe, most of them being banks and other financial institutions. Its blockchain-based payment solutions, like XCurrent and XRapid, are used extensively by its partners. Schwartz also mentioned that lack of crypto education & awareness, and tussle with regulators globally are the two biggest obstacles preventing the growth of the crypto industry.
Ripple has been one of the most active crypto projects globally, and the company has been pushing harder for expanding adoption. One such effort was apparent at the recently concluded WeAreDevelopers Conference in Berlin, Germany.
Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer David Schwartz, in his speech, advised giants like Amazon and Uber that they should use digital currencies like XRP. Schwartz stated that companies like Amazon, Seagate, Airbnb, or Uber make a large number of small payments to thousands of merchants around the world. He said, These merchants need efficient and reliable daily payments to meet ends, which they don’t regularly get, despite these giants employing a large number of people in their payments department.
The best way to tackle this, Schwartz suggests, is to use cryptocurrencies for making payments to merchants. He added,
“We came up with what’s technically a form of federated Byzantine agreement that we call consensus that’s faster and cheaper than proof-of-work. And the result is that XRP is a decentralized digital asset not connected to any jurisdiction, that moves more quickly and more cheaply than Bitcoin. And I would argue that it’s also more censorship-resistant and has some of the decentralization properties that we want. And that’s resulted in low cost, low fees and high transaction volume with low latency.”
Schwartz argued that Ripple is one of the most formidable crypto payment networks in the world, and unlike SWIFT or PayPal, is decentralized with no central intervention. This makes Ripple absolutely apt for both big companies and their partner merchants, as it reduces payment times, maintains transparency, and cost-effective.
Ripple has partnerships and collaborations with over 200 companies across the globe, most of them being banks and other financial institutions. Its blockchain-based payment solutions, like XCurrent and XRapid, are used extensively by its partners. Schwartz also mentioned that lack of crypto education & awareness, and tussle with regulators globally are the two biggest obstacles preventing the growth of the crypto industry.
Facebook will Refrain from Launching Its Crypto Libra until Necessary Approvals are Acquired
The discussions and debates around Facebook’s ambitious cryptocurrency project Libra never seem to come to an end. It is a well-known fact that Facebook has faced a lot of flak from policymakers, globally, citing data privacy, money laundering, security, consumer protection, and other illegal usage concerns. Now, the head of Calibra David Marcus has stated that they will be effectively addressing the concerns raised by the regulators and unveiling Libra only when they have got all the necessary approvals from the concerned authorities.
Marcus was slated to testify before the Senate committee on 16th and 17th July as the authorities had demanded an immediate halt in the development of Libra.
Providing further clarifications over concerns on the Libra currency, Marcus said that the crypto is not being developed to enter into a competition with the conventional currencies or interfere with the monetary policies in any way. He also promised the project would have utmost privacy.
In the Senate hearing yesterday, Marcus further disclosed that the Libra Association will only hold basic transaction details and no personal user data. Besides, the information furnished to the Calibra wallet won’t be shared with Facebook and won’t be utilized to target ads, added Marcus.
Throwing more lights on how Facebook perceives this project, Marcus stated that the Libra currency is being treated as the payment tool and not as an investment. It is meant for easing the money transfers as well as interactions. He also claimed that the Association is restricted from making profits from the blockchain data for ads or other such purposes.
Continuing further, Marcus also put forth his expectation that Libra be regulated by Switzerland’s Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner as the Libra Association has its basis in Geneva. It was also revealed that the Libra Association is engaged in initial talks regarding a suitable regulatory framework with the Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority. Moreover, the Association plans to get registered as the Money Services Business with the FinCEN and thoroughly comply with the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering standards.
It remains to be seen whether Facebook gets all the approvals in time or has to wait longer.
The discussions and debates around Facebook’s ambitious cryptocurrency project Libra never seem to come to an end. It is a well-known fact that Facebook has faced a lot of flak from policymakers, globally, citing data privacy, money laundering, security, consumer protection, and other illegal usage concerns. Now, the head of Calibra David Marcus has stated that they will be effectively addressing the concerns raised by the regulators and unveiling Libra only when they have got all the necessary approvals from the concerned authorities.
Marcus was slated to testify before the Senate committee on 16th and 17th July as the authorities had demanded an immediate halt in the development of Libra.
Providing further clarifications over concerns on the Libra currency, Marcus said that the crypto is not being developed to enter into a competition with the conventional currencies or interfere with the monetary policies in any way. He also promised the project would have utmost privacy.
In the Senate hearing yesterday, Marcus further disclosed that the Libra Association will only hold basic transaction details and no personal user data. Besides, the information furnished to the Calibra wallet won’t be shared with Facebook and won’t be utilized to target ads, added Marcus.
Throwing more lights on how Facebook perceives this project, Marcus stated that the Libra currency is being treated as the payment tool and not as an investment. It is meant for easing the money transfers as well as interactions. He also claimed that the Association is restricted from making profits from the blockchain data for ads or other such purposes.
Continuing further, Marcus also put forth his expectation that Libra be regulated by Switzerland’s Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner as the Libra Association has its basis in Geneva. It was also revealed that the Libra Association is engaged in initial talks regarding a suitable regulatory framework with the Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority. Moreover, the Association plans to get registered as the Money Services Business with the FinCEN and thoroughly comply with the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering standards.
It remains to be seen whether Facebook gets all the approvals in time or has to wait longer.
Crypto Not Prohibited In India, Confirms Minister Anurag Thakur
It’s a moment of rejoicing for the crypto community in India, as after months of speculations and negative predictions, the government has finally confirmed that digital currencies are not prohibited in India. The Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Anurag Singh Thakur replied to all the questions raised in the parliament.
While answering to the questions raised by the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Thakur informed that though there is no separate law for digital assets in India, traditional regulatory bodies like the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Enforcement Directorate, and the Income Tax Department will deal with all the matters related to the industry.
In the last few months, there has been a lot of speculation around the fate of cryptocurrencies in the country. A couple of days ago, a report was leaked online claiming that the Indian government will be bringing a bill to ban digital currencies completely and criminalizing crypto trade. However, answers by the minister have cleared the air, giving the much-needed relief to crypto companies in the country.
To put an end to all the rumors around decentralized currencies, an opposition member in the Upper House, Dharmapuri Srinivas asked the minister whether the government had prohibited crypto in the country, or not. Answering the question, the minister replied, ‘No, sir.’
The opposition further asked whether the government had taken notice of the prevalence of crypto in the country. To this, Thakur said,
“Taking note of the issue, the government has constituted an interministerial committee (IMC) under the chairmanship of Secretary (DA). The IMC has submitted the report to the government.”
The IMC mentioned by the minister is headed by Secretary of Economic Affairs and Finance Secretary of India, Subhash Chandra Garg. Apart from him, representatives from the RBI, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) form the committee.
Lastly, the minister was asked about the actions taken against people involved in crypto market operations in the country. He replied,
“Presently, there is no separate law for dealing with issues relating to cryptocurrencies. Hence, all concerned departments and law enforcement agencies, such as RBI, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax authorities, etc. take action as per the relevant existing laws.”
It’s a moment of rejoicing for the crypto community in India, as after months of speculations and negative predictions, the government has finally confirmed that digital currencies are not prohibited in India. The Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Anurag Singh Thakur replied to all the questions raised in the parliament.
While answering to the questions raised by the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Thakur informed that though there is no separate law for digital assets in India, traditional regulatory bodies like the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Enforcement Directorate, and the Income Tax Department will deal with all the matters related to the industry.
In the last few months, there has been a lot of speculation around the fate of cryptocurrencies in the country. A couple of days ago, a report was leaked online claiming that the Indian government will be bringing a bill to ban digital currencies completely and criminalizing crypto trade. However, answers by the minister have cleared the air, giving the much-needed relief to crypto companies in the country.
To put an end to all the rumors around decentralized currencies, an opposition member in the Upper House, Dharmapuri Srinivas asked the minister whether the government had prohibited crypto in the country, or not. Answering the question, the minister replied, ‘No, sir.’
The opposition further asked whether the government had taken notice of the prevalence of crypto in the country. To this, Thakur said,
“Taking note of the issue, the government has constituted an interministerial committee (IMC) under the chairmanship of Secretary (DA). The IMC has submitted the report to the government.”
The IMC mentioned by the minister is headed by Secretary of Economic Affairs and Finance Secretary of India, Subhash Chandra Garg. Apart from him, representatives from the RBI, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) form the committee.
Lastly, the minister was asked about the actions taken against people involved in crypto market operations in the country. He replied,
“Presently, there is no separate law for dealing with issues relating to cryptocurrencies. Hence, all concerned departments and law enforcement agencies, such as RBI, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax authorities, etc. take action as per the relevant existing laws.”
JP Morgan’s CEO Comments About the Effect of Facebook’s Crypto Libra
Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra is driving in diversified opinions from all over the world. While some are eagerly awaiting it, multiple authorities have raised critical questions on the ambitious crypto project by the social networking giant. The latest remarks on Libra has been made by Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan Chase’s CEO. Dimon has said that he is not expecting Facebook’s Libra currency to have a short-term effect on the bank.
Dimon expressed his views during a conference analyst call on 16th July, according to CNBC reports. As per Dimon, it was very soon to start speculating how this effort, touted as the international currency for all the unbanked, will affect his enterprise and its prospects. JP Morgan Chase is the largest bank in the US and the leader, as per its latest annual report, when it comes to the United States retail deposits.
Continuing further, Dimon opined that the discussions on Libra would take 3 years to start from now. He also said he would not spend a lot of his time on it. Clarifying further, he said,
“To put it in perspective, we’ve been talking about blockchain for seven years and very little has happened.”
Dimon also said the new efforts have to be in compliance with the anti-money laundering standards of the industry. He added that they do not mind competition. All they are and will be requesting is a level playing field. He also stated that governments insist on people holding money or moving money live as per the established rules where the control lies with them. After all, nobody wants to abet or aid terrorism or other criminal acts.
In his previous interviews, Dimon has expressed that crypto firms might enter into competition with the legacy banks. But, according to his beliefs, it will be the regulations that would become the key factor in the way these technologies are brought to the masses, possibly prolonging their timelines.
It is worth noting that JP Morgan had disclosed last month that it intends to introduce pilot testing of its crypto JPM Coin by the year-end.
Facebook’s stablecoin Libra, on the other hand, was slated to be launched next year but recently it went on to announce that it won’t offer the crypto until all the regulatory concerns have been addressed.
Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra is driving in diversified opinions from all over the world. While some are eagerly awaiting it, multiple authorities have raised critical questions on the ambitious crypto project by the social networking giant. The latest remarks on Libra has been made by Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan Chase’s CEO. Dimon has said that he is not expecting Facebook’s Libra currency to have a short-term effect on the bank.
Dimon expressed his views during a conference analyst call on 16th July, according to CNBC reports. As per Dimon, it was very soon to start speculating how this effort, touted as the international currency for all the unbanked, will affect his enterprise and its prospects. JP Morgan Chase is the largest bank in the US and the leader, as per its latest annual report, when it comes to the United States retail deposits.
Continuing further, Dimon opined that the discussions on Libra would take 3 years to start from now. He also said he would not spend a lot of his time on it. Clarifying further, he said,
“To put it in perspective, we’ve been talking about blockchain for seven years and very little has happened.”
Dimon also said the new efforts have to be in compliance with the anti-money laundering standards of the industry. He added that they do not mind competition. All they are and will be requesting is a level playing field. He also stated that governments insist on people holding money or moving money live as per the established rules where the control lies with them. After all, nobody wants to abet or aid terrorism or other criminal acts.
In his previous interviews, Dimon has expressed that crypto firms might enter into competition with the legacy banks. But, according to his beliefs, it will be the regulations that would become the key factor in the way these technologies are brought to the masses, possibly prolonging their timelines.
It is worth noting that JP Morgan had disclosed last month that it intends to introduce pilot testing of its crypto JPM Coin by the year-end.
Facebook’s stablecoin Libra, on the other hand, was slated to be launched next year but recently it went on to announce that it won’t offer the crypto until all the regulatory concerns have been addressed.
Tron Prices Rocked After Sun Postpones Buffett Lunch Meeting
Tron prices have tumbled after the cryptocurrency’s foundation announced its founder Justin Sun had postponed a much-anticipated lunch meeting with one of the richest man in the world, prominent investor and Bitcoin skeptic, Warren Buffett.
Day-on-day Tron prices were down by almost 12% at the time of writing (04:26 UTC), trimming its weekly gains to 4%. For the context, other major coins from the top 10 by market capitalization are registering up to 5% losses today.
The foundation stated that “lunch and press conferences” had been put on hold after Sun had “fallen ill with kidney stones.” Tron confirmed that Buffett and Sun had “agreed to reschedule at a later date.”
The lunch meeting with Buffett had been slated for July 25, and was organized after Sun paid USD 4.6 million at a charity auction.
Sun had hoped to bring along a host of leading international figures in the cryptocurrency industry, including executives from eToro, Binance, Circle and Huobi, as well as Litecoin founder Charlie Lee.
Sun had also tweeted an invitation to American President Donald Trump after the latter criticized Facebook’s Libra project and Bitcoin in a Twitter outburst earlier this month.
Buffett is a known skeptic on all things cryptocurrency-related, but Sun had stated he believes he can change the billionaire’s stance on the matter.
Tron price weekly chart:
Tron prices have tumbled after the cryptocurrency’s foundation announced its founder Justin Sun had postponed a much-anticipated lunch meeting with one of the richest man in the world, prominent investor and Bitcoin skeptic, Warren Buffett.
Day-on-day Tron prices were down by almost 12% at the time of writing (04:26 UTC), trimming its weekly gains to 4%. For the context, other major coins from the top 10 by market capitalization are registering up to 5% losses today.
The foundation stated that “lunch and press conferences” had been put on hold after Sun had “fallen ill with kidney stones.” Tron confirmed that Buffett and Sun had “agreed to reschedule at a later date.”
The lunch meeting with Buffett had been slated for July 25, and was organized after Sun paid USD 4.6 million at a charity auction.
Sun had hoped to bring along a host of leading international figures in the cryptocurrency industry, including executives from eToro, Binance, Circle and Huobi, as well as Litecoin founder Charlie Lee.
Sun had also tweeted an invitation to American President Donald Trump after the latter criticized Facebook’s Libra project and Bitcoin in a Twitter outburst earlier this month.
Buffett is a known skeptic on all things cryptocurrency-related, but Sun had stated he believes he can change the billionaire’s stance on the matter.
Tron price weekly chart:
Bakkt Starts Testing its Bitcoin Futures Today
Highly-anticipated and oft-delayed crypto trading platform Bakkt starts testing its bitcoin futures today.
As previously reported, today the user acceptance testing should begin for the bitcoin futures listed and traded at ICE Futures US and cleared at ICE Clear US.
"Testing is proceeding as planned with participants from around the world," Bakkt confirmed today.
As a reminder, the two futures to enter the testing phase are:
-A daily settlement bitcoin future, which will enable customers to transact in a same-day market.
-A monthly bitcoin futures contract, which will enable trading in the front month and across the forward pricing curve.
“That’s our mission”, Bakkt says, “to support the development of trusted infrastructure for securely transacting in the new market for digital assets.”
They also claim to bring other features expected by institutions “in a versatile and broadly accessible market”, such as block trades, market maker incentive programs to encourage liquid markets, a fee holiday through the end of the year to encourage trading, and integrations with independent software vendors and regulated brokerage platforms.
It’s well known that Bakkt, which is backed by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, is often seen as a big step for traditional investors to take and enter into cryptosphere, which could boost the adoption of Bitcoin and other digital assets.
As previously reported, being valued at around USD 740 million, and having a number of major companies as its investors and partners, such as Boston Consulting Group, CMT Digital, Eagle Seven, Galaxy Digital, Starbucks, Horizons Ventures, and others, Bakkt will need a lot of trading volume to make sure the investors get their returns.
Meanwhile, CMEGroup said recently that CME Bitcoin futures reached a record USD 1.7 billion in notional value traded on June 26, surpassing the previous record by more than 30%.
Moreover, in June, major broker in the global financial markets, TP ICAP, entered cryptoworld by expanding their services and becoming an intermediary between clients who want to trade Bitcoin futures.
Highly-anticipated and oft-delayed crypto trading platform Bakkt starts testing its bitcoin futures today.
As previously reported, today the user acceptance testing should begin for the bitcoin futures listed and traded at ICE Futures US and cleared at ICE Clear US.
"Testing is proceeding as planned with participants from around the world," Bakkt confirmed today.
As a reminder, the two futures to enter the testing phase are:
-A daily settlement bitcoin future, which will enable customers to transact in a same-day market.
-A monthly bitcoin futures contract, which will enable trading in the front month and across the forward pricing curve.
“That’s our mission”, Bakkt says, “to support the development of trusted infrastructure for securely transacting in the new market for digital assets.”
They also claim to bring other features expected by institutions “in a versatile and broadly accessible market”, such as block trades, market maker incentive programs to encourage liquid markets, a fee holiday through the end of the year to encourage trading, and integrations with independent software vendors and regulated brokerage platforms.
It’s well known that Bakkt, which is backed by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, is often seen as a big step for traditional investors to take and enter into cryptosphere, which could boost the adoption of Bitcoin and other digital assets.
As previously reported, being valued at around USD 740 million, and having a number of major companies as its investors and partners, such as Boston Consulting Group, CMT Digital, Eagle Seven, Galaxy Digital, Starbucks, Horizons Ventures, and others, Bakkt will need a lot of trading volume to make sure the investors get their returns.
Meanwhile, CMEGroup said recently that CME Bitcoin futures reached a record USD 1.7 billion in notional value traded on June 26, surpassing the previous record by more than 30%.
Moreover, in June, major broker in the global financial markets, TP ICAP, entered cryptoworld by expanding their services and becoming an intermediary between clients who want to trade Bitcoin futures.
Bitcoin Above USD 10K Again, Outperformed by Ether, EOS and Others
The crypto market is in green today - bitcoin is back above the USD 10,000 level, while other major coins outperform the most popular cryptocurrency and only nine tokens from the top 100 are in red now.
At pixel time (04:36 UTC), bitcoin trades at c. USD 10,105 and is up by almost 5% in the past 24 hours and by more than 3% in the past week.
However, this time, bitcoin is among major coins that are registering the smallest gains, as ether jumped by almost 9% and EOS is up by 12%.
The total market capitalization increased by 5.3%, to USD 279 billion, while bitcoin dominance, or the percentage of the whole market capitalization, decreased slightly and is still below 65%.
Among the smaller capitalization coins from the top 100, waltonchain, nexo, qtum, metaverse etp are the best performers today, registering 14%-25% gains.
As reported yesterday, market players indicate higher interest in bitcoin, while the amount of bitcoin untouched for at least 5 years is at an all-time high. Moreover, Dan Morehead, founder and CEO of Pantera Capital, said that if bitcoin stays on past trend lines it could hit USD 42,000 by year’s end and USD 356,000 a couple years after that.
Top 10 coins by market capitalization:
The crypto market is in green today - bitcoin is back above the USD 10,000 level, while other major coins outperform the most popular cryptocurrency and only nine tokens from the top 100 are in red now.
At pixel time (04:36 UTC), bitcoin trades at c. USD 10,105 and is up by almost 5% in the past 24 hours and by more than 3% in the past week.
However, this time, bitcoin is among major coins that are registering the smallest gains, as ether jumped by almost 9% and EOS is up by 12%.
The total market capitalization increased by 5.3%, to USD 279 billion, while bitcoin dominance, or the percentage of the whole market capitalization, decreased slightly and is still below 65%.
Among the smaller capitalization coins from the top 100, waltonchain, nexo, qtum, metaverse etp are the best performers today, registering 14%-25% gains.
As reported yesterday, market players indicate higher interest in bitcoin, while the amount of bitcoin untouched for at least 5 years is at an all-time high. Moreover, Dan Morehead, founder and CEO of Pantera Capital, said that if bitcoin stays on past trend lines it could hit USD 42,000 by year’s end and USD 356,000 a couple years after that.
Top 10 coins by market capitalization:
John McAfee Released from Detention
Prominent crypto advocate and IT security entrepreneur, John McAfee is back after being detained by the authorities in the Dominican Republic.
According to the Associated Press, the officials said that the millionaire, his wife, and four other companions were suspected of traveling on a yacht carrying high-caliber weapons, ammunition, and military-style gear.
As reported yesterday, McAfee's presidential campaign manager, Rob Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Loggia-Ramirez, took over McAfee’s Twitter account and sounded the alarm to the public that McAfee and his companions were detained at their latest port of call, demanding his immediate release, and saying that if McAfee is not released, the data he has hidden across the world will be.
Loggia-Ramirez then posted an update to the situation some thirteen hours ago, saying that McAfee, his wife, and the crew “are alive and in the process of being released from confinement”, and that he’s unable to share more details “for their continued safety”. Three hours later, the manager posted again, saying that he spoke with McAfee over the phone, confirming everybody’s “safe release”, as well as that they are going to a new location, even though they had to leave their boat for now, nicknamed “The Freedom Boat”.
Following this, about an hour later, MacAfee himself addressed the public in a tweet, saying that he is leaving detention, and that he was well treated by the “friendly and helpful” superiors.
McAfee has been on the run from the U.S. authorities since this January, saying that he is “being charged with using Crypto Currencies in criminal acts against the U. S. Government”. Meanwhile, just last month, he launched a cryptocurrency trading platform.
Prominent crypto advocate and IT security entrepreneur, John McAfee is back after being detained by the authorities in the Dominican Republic.
According to the Associated Press, the officials said that the millionaire, his wife, and four other companions were suspected of traveling on a yacht carrying high-caliber weapons, ammunition, and military-style gear.
As reported yesterday, McAfee's presidential campaign manager, Rob Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Loggia-Ramirez, took over McAfee’s Twitter account and sounded the alarm to the public that McAfee and his companions were detained at their latest port of call, demanding his immediate release, and saying that if McAfee is not released, the data he has hidden across the world will be.
Loggia-Ramirez then posted an update to the situation some thirteen hours ago, saying that McAfee, his wife, and the crew “are alive and in the process of being released from confinement”, and that he’s unable to share more details “for their continued safety”. Three hours later, the manager posted again, saying that he spoke with McAfee over the phone, confirming everybody’s “safe release”, as well as that they are going to a new location, even though they had to leave their boat for now, nicknamed “The Freedom Boat”.
Following this, about an hour later, MacAfee himself addressed the public in a tweet, saying that he is leaving detention, and that he was well treated by the “friendly and helpful” superiors.
McAfee has been on the run from the U.S. authorities since this January, saying that he is “being charged with using Crypto Currencies in criminal acts against the U. S. Government”. Meanwhile, just last month, he launched a cryptocurrency trading platform.
Bytom has Chosen Chainlink as its New Oracle Service Provider
Chainlink’s oracle system’s efficiency is not hidden from anyone. Their oracle system offers smart contracts that are based on decentralized oracles. The presence of decentralized oracles leads to various features that include establishing a good and solid connection with important off-chain resources, which further supports data feeds, API functions, and other payment methods. Such a dynamic platform is joining forces with Bytom blockchain. Bytom has recently announced about the integration.
This integration of Bytom blockchain and Chainlink will support the former in empowering its smart contracts. By far, the smart contracts of Bytom were created for operations that are related to the digital assets. This required security and data feeding system that can be relied upon. This integration with Chainlink will further support Bytom’s smart contracts in the following manner-
Now, there can be an off-chain connection between incoming and outgoing data.
The integration of the two companies should uplift the accuracy and overall functioning of the smart contracts of Bytom.
The decentralized app developers will be able to access the real world, real-time information, and data in a much more secure manner, and therefore, the efficiency will increase many folds.
The decentralized oracle network- Chainlink should definitely take the performance of Bytom’s smart contracts way higher than what it is today. Chainlink has been known for its reputable blockchain technology services for a long time. This integration is not the first one for Chainlink. In the recent past, the company has catered to big names that include Google, SWIFT, and so on. It has also very efficiently lead smart contract teams.
The Founder and CEO of Bytom- Xinxing Duan thinks that this integration and deploying of Chainlink’s oracle should help the platform to support the “decentralized finance” and “programmable economy” possible. In his words-
We look forward to working with Chainlink to deploy their oracle service on Bytom. Better monitoring of off-chain data and assets helps the adoption of decentralized finance and the coming of a programmable economy.
Bytom is already an interactive platform that has multiple byte assets. Bytom’s vision is to build diverse assets and programmable economy, as mentioned in the above statement. The platform offers services to register, exchange, gamble, or engage in various kinds of byte assets such as digital currency, digital assets, warrants, securities, dividends, bonds, intelligence information, forecasting information, and so on.
Chainlink, on the other hand, mentioned about this integration on Twitter yesterday. The fact that the tweet received one hundred and fourteen re-tweets and three hundred and ninety-two hearts is a statement in itself, about how equally excited the audience is along with the two companies about the integration. The Global Head of Business Development of Chainlink- Daniel Kochis said-
Chainlink is looking forward to providing reliable oracles to power the creation of diverse digital assets and on-chain financial products on Bytom.
Chainlink’s oracle system’s efficiency is not hidden from anyone. Their oracle system offers smart contracts that are based on decentralized oracles. The presence of decentralized oracles leads to various features that include establishing a good and solid connection with important off-chain resources, which further supports data feeds, API functions, and other payment methods. Such a dynamic platform is joining forces with Bytom blockchain. Bytom has recently announced about the integration.
This integration of Bytom blockchain and Chainlink will support the former in empowering its smart contracts. By far, the smart contracts of Bytom were created for operations that are related to the digital assets. This required security and data feeding system that can be relied upon. This integration with Chainlink will further support Bytom’s smart contracts in the following manner-
Now, there can be an off-chain connection between incoming and outgoing data.
The integration of the two companies should uplift the accuracy and overall functioning of the smart contracts of Bytom.
The decentralized app developers will be able to access the real world, real-time information, and data in a much more secure manner, and therefore, the efficiency will increase many folds.
The decentralized oracle network- Chainlink should definitely take the performance of Bytom’s smart contracts way higher than what it is today. Chainlink has been known for its reputable blockchain technology services for a long time. This integration is not the first one for Chainlink. In the recent past, the company has catered to big names that include Google, SWIFT, and so on. It has also very efficiently lead smart contract teams.
The Founder and CEO of Bytom- Xinxing Duan thinks that this integration and deploying of Chainlink’s oracle should help the platform to support the “decentralized finance” and “programmable economy” possible. In his words-
We look forward to working with Chainlink to deploy their oracle service on Bytom. Better monitoring of off-chain data and assets helps the adoption of decentralized finance and the coming of a programmable economy.
Bytom is already an interactive platform that has multiple byte assets. Bytom’s vision is to build diverse assets and programmable economy, as mentioned in the above statement. The platform offers services to register, exchange, gamble, or engage in various kinds of byte assets such as digital currency, digital assets, warrants, securities, dividends, bonds, intelligence information, forecasting information, and so on.
Chainlink, on the other hand, mentioned about this integration on Twitter yesterday. The fact that the tweet received one hundred and fourteen re-tweets and three hundred and ninety-two hearts is a statement in itself, about how equally excited the audience is along with the two companies about the integration. The Global Head of Business Development of Chainlink- Daniel Kochis said-
Chainlink is looking forward to providing reliable oracles to power the creation of diverse digital assets and on-chain financial products on Bytom.
