SEC Charges Ohio Man For Running Fraudulent Digital Asset Scheme

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SEC Charges Ohio Man For Running Fraudulent Digital Asset Scheme

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 2/12/2020 9:52 AM ET

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged an Ohio-based businessman for allegedly orchestrating a digital asset scheme that defrauded approximately 150 investors, including many physicians.

In the SEC’s complaint, filed in federal court in New York, the SEC seeks a permanent injunction, disgorgement plus pre-judgment interest, and a civil penalty.

Michael Ackerman is charged for raising at least $33 million from more than 150 investors through a fraudulent offer and sale of securities in the form of investment contracts between no later than July 1, 2017 and until at least December 1, 2019. He did this through two entities he controlled, Q3 Trading Club and Q3 I, LP.

The investors were made to believe that Ackerman had developed a proprietary algorithm that allowed him to generate extraordinary profits while trading in cryptocurrencies. Particularly, physicians made investments in the two Q3 companies based on these alleged claims by one of the business partners who also is a physician.

The SEC’s complaint alleges that Ackerman misled investors about the performance of his digital currency trading, his use of investor funds, and the safety of investor funds in the Q3 trading account.

He doctored computer screenshots taken of Q3’s trading account to prepare false financial records to create the illusion that Q3 was highly invested in cryptocurrencies, with holding assets of as much as $310 million.

SEC alleges that in reality at no time did Q3’s trading account hold more than $6 million and Q3 Companies’ trading account had a monthly balance averaging only about $1.7 million. The profits generated by the Algorithm were also minimal. The false reports claimed that the Q3 Companies generated monthly profits of at least 15 percent.

He used $7.5 million of investor funds for personal purposes, buying and renovating a house, purchasing high end jewelry, multiple cars, and pay for personal security services.

In parallel actions, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed charges against Ackerman arising from similar conduct.

The SEC is conducting the investigations with assistance of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Homeland Security.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Conservative So Baptists planning to ‘show up take control’

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Conservative So. Baptists planning to 'show up, take control'

Friday, February 14, 2020 | Steve Jordahl (OneNewsNow.com)

Stand firm, stand your groundConcern over a leftward drift in the Southern Baptist Convention has the largest Protestant denomination in America at a crossroads as its messengers prepare to gather in Orlando this summer.

Last summer in Birmingham, Alabama, the Southern Baptists approved a referendum drift away from biblical priorities and toward cultural relevance.

There's been talk of a boycott of this summer's Annual Meeting, but Pastor Sam Bunnell of South Reno Baptist Church in Nevada doesn't think that's a good idea.

"I think the answer is not to boycott, but to show up and take control back of the denomination. It happened in 1985," he notes.

The pastor is referring to what's known in SBC circles as "The Conservative Resurgence" – when a group of passionate, conservative leaders stood their ground and kept the denomination from following other mainlines off the theological cliff. Among those leading the charge were Adrian Rogers, Paul Pressler, W.A. Criswell, and Paige Patterson.

Bunnell says it's time for another resurgence. "I believe this is the year to take back the Convention," he tells OneNewsNow.

Lines have been crossed in the last year or two, he says, including the afore-mentioned Resolution 9. "It is no longer just differences in opinions or differences in practice," Bunnell explains. "It is now getting into the core theology of who Southern Baptists have always been and what we believe."

According to the Nevada pastor, others share his opinion that this is the time to fight for the soul of the Southern Baptist Convention.

"I think the perception is that the only ones who are pushing back against some of these liberal trends are older, white guys sitting in small churches that aren't growing and they're just on their computers fighting hopeless wars," he shares. "I'm here to tell you that is not the case: there are many in their 20s, 30s, 40s who are theologically sound."

The SBC's Annual Meeting is taking place June 9-10 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.

Article written by Steve Jordahl, and posted on the One News Now website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Eerie Pattern: Bitcoin to Shoot Up to 10600 Quick

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Eerie Pattern: Bitcoin to Shoot Up to $10,600, Quick

After sustaining a nearly 4% loss over the past two days, Bitcoin started to recover on Friday, rallying as high as $10,380 just minutes ago as of the time of writing this.

While this isn't a strong recovery per se, for the asset remains below its local top of $10,550 (which analysts say is crucial for bulls to break across in the coming days), an eerie pattern suggests Bitcoin is going to rocket higher towards $10,600.

Bitcoin Could Soon Surge Higher

Prominent cryptocurrency trader HornHairs recently noted that Bitcoin's price action has exhibited a clear pattern over the past few days: the pattern sees BTC dump, pump in a parabolic fashion, and crash again as the parabola fails.

Bitcoin is currently in the middle stage, marked by rapidly-increasing prices. The parabola that is forming suggests the price of the cryptocurrency will top around $10,650, around 3.4% higher than the current price of the asset.

Although there is this bull case, a key sell signal just flashed per previous reports from Ethereum World News.

Nik Yaremchuk, an analyst and researcher at cryptocurrency fund Adaptive Capital, recently noted that with Wednesday's close, the one-day and two-day Bitcoin charts are printing simultaneous sell signals: the TD Sequential has printed a green 9s on both time frames.

This is more bearish than bullish because, for those unaware, the time-based TD Sequential prints 9 and 13 candles at reversal points in markets, for it signals that the trend is exhausted.

Close Above $10,500 Could Set Stage for Bigger Mov

While the above pattern suggests Bitcoin may crash after it sees a short-term parabolic spike into the $10,600 to $10,700, a daily or weekly close above $10,500, analysts say, will set the stage for an even larger move higher.

Prominent technical analyst Cred — who sports over 140,000 followers — remarked that since $9,500 has been breached, Bitcoin's nearest resistance is $10,500, the midpoint of the tried-and-true range between $9,500 and $11,500.

Though, Cred remarked that if Bitcoin can confirm a close above $10,600 — just a smidgen above the resistance he identified — prices will continue higher, likely unfettered until the other long-term resistance he identified at $11,500.

$10,500 is also important because this price point was the top of Bitcoin's rally in September 2019, which was caused by China's embracing of blockchain technologies in an unexpected fashion.

Original article posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site, by Nick Chong.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Crypto Lending Firm Blockfi Secures 30m to Facilitate Mainstream Adoption

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Crypto Lending Firm Blockfi Secures 30m to Facilitate Mainstream Adoption


Image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

            FEB 13, 2020

Cryptocurrency-lending startup BlockFi has secured $30 million from an array of investors, including Morgan Creek Digital, Winklevoss Capital and Arrington XRP Capital.

The Series B funding round was led by United States-based capital fund Valar Ventures, with participation of Akuna Capital, CMT Digital, Avon Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Purple Arch Ventures, Kenetic Capital, and Hong Kong-based HashKey Capital, among others, according to a Feb. 13 announcement shared with Cointelegraph.

With a view to launch products for mainstream

With the raised funds, BlockFi — whose users can earn compound interest on and trade loans backed by assets — now has more than $650 million in assets on the platform. The company is planning to allocate the secured funds to the enhancement of its staff and expansion of its offerings.

BlockFi hinted in the release that it will roll out products accessible to a mainstream audience, starting with a mobile app in the coming months. “We’ve demonstrated that we can build financial products around cryptocurrency that can look and feel like the apps you already have on your phone, and we’re well-positioned to drive mainstream adoption,” said Flori Marquez, VP of operations and co-Founder of BlockFi.

At this point, BlockFi’s initial annual percentage yield on assets is 8.6% for Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and stablecoins, while the company also provides crypto-backed loans which allow investors to access liquidity up to 50% of an asset’s value in USD, and zero-fee trading.

Crypto loans sector proliferates

Previously, founder of hedge fund Arrington XRP Capital, Michael Arrington, told Cointelegraph that he sees great potential for crypto lending companies.

Arrington noted that higher interest rates are already driving adoption. “I know of first-time crypto users who are buying stablecoins to get higher interest rates than they normally would be able to with fiat,” he said.

Cryptocurrency loans and lending began gaining traction during the 2018 bear market. As a recent analysis by Cointelegraph showed, the entire crypto loan industry is estimated to be worth nearly $4.7 billion, with demand for crypto loans rapidly increasing.

Original article posted on the CoinTelegraph.com site, by Ana Alexandre.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Why Has Bitcoin Rocketed to 10400? Exec Gives 2 Catalysts

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Why Has Bitcoin Rocketed to $10,400? Exec Gives 2 Catalysts

Bitcoin’s face-ripping move higher over recent weeks has undoubtedly caught traders off guard.

Below is a tweet from Joseph Young, a leading cryptocurrency analyst/journalist, who noted that short sellers of BTC have seen millions of dollars of their positions liquidated throughout this move, accentuating how unexpected this move has been.

That leaves a pressing question — what has been Bitcoin so far higher over the past few weeks?

Why Has Bitcoin Been Moving So Far Higher?

Vijay Ayyar, head of business development at cryptocurrency exchange Luno, recently weighed in on the latest rally in the digital asset markets in an interview with CNBC, citing key factors that are likely behind the increased demand for Bitcoin and, as a result, altcoins.

The first factor he cited is the fears around the coronavirus outbreak, which have caused a fair bit of uncertainty in global markets. In China, a novel coronavirus has started to spread that purportedly has a high transmissibility rate and a relatively high mortality rate compared to the common cold, leading to many companies (both Chinese and international) seeing their supply chains affected, hurting markets.

Bitcoin is purportedly involved because people see the cryptocurrency as a “safe-haven investment” or “digital gold” that may actually benefit from chaos rather than suffer.

The second factor Ayyar touched on is recent comments from the Federal Reserve’s Jerome Powell regarding the importance of digital currency in today’s world.

In a Congress committee hearing on Tuesday, Powell said that the launch of the Facebook cryptocurrency, Libra, “lit a fire” under the rear-ends of the world’s governments and central banks, the Fed included. This seemingly confirmed that cryptocurrency has value in today’s world.

Other Factors in Play

While these two factors have gained a lot of steam as likely bullish catalyst, there are other factors at play likely affecting how investors allocate capital towards the cryptocurrency markets.

Namely, the upcoming block reward reduction or “halving,” after which the inflation rate of Bitcoin will be cut in half due to code built into the blockchain.

Prior to historical halvings, which take place every four years, Bitcoin rallied strongly, then tapered off slightly after the event due to mining factors; this is relevant because the ongoing rally may be similar to the previous pre-halving rallies.

Original article posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site, by Nick Chong.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

BitGo Expands Custody Offerings To Switzerland Germany

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BitGo Expands Custody Offerings To Switzerland, Germany

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 2/11/2020 9:29 AM ET

U.S.-based digital asset financial services firm BitGo extended its operation to Europe by opening up two new regulated custodial entities in Switzerland and Germany – BitGo GmbH in Switzerland and BitGo Deutschland GmbH in Germany.

“We saw a lot of demand in Europe last year and it was clear that clients there needed to be able to work with European based firms that were regulated within specific jurisdictions,” said Mike Belshe, CEO of BitGo.

The entities will be regulated by different financial authorities. BitGo GmbH is a member of the Financial Services Standards Association (VQF), supervised by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).

BitGo Deutschland GmbH is currently providing custody services in Germany and will apply for regulatory approval when the application window opens in November 2020.

Switzerland and Germany have both become important European centers for digital assets with forward-thinking regulatory frameworks.

BitGo introduced the first regulated custodian purpose-built for digital assets in 2018 when it launched BitGo Trust Co. in the U.S. and has seen strong adoption. BitGo clients can now select the jurisdiction that is the best fit for their business.

BitGo, backed by Michael Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital Ventures and Goldman Sachs, is a provider of institutional cryptocurrency financial services, providing clients with a set of security, compliance, and custodial solutions.

BitGo claims to processes more than about 20 percent of all global Bitcoin transactions. It supports over 250 coins and tokens, and its customer base includes the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges and spans more than 50 countries.

In February last year, BitGo partnered British insurer Llyod’s of London to provide insurance protection for cryptocurrencies and digital assets such as Bitcoin held in their Business Wallet and Custody offerings. Llyod’s is providing insurance for up to $100 million of custodial assets held by either BitGo, Inc., or BitGo Trust Co.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Coinbase Says Bitcoin Will Become Closer to Digital Gold in 93 Days

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Coinbase Says Bitcoin Will Become Closer to Digital Gold in 93 Days


Image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

            FEB 08, 2020

With May’s Bitcoin halving event drawing ever closer, Coinbase recently took to pushing the “Bitcoin as digital gold” narrative. In a tweet-storm to promote an accompanying blog-post published Feb. 7, it covered the key reasons why the halving and subsequent supply rate reduction will further cement that link.

Scarcity creates value

Since the gold standard was broken in 1971, the dollar’s value has declined and gold’s value, in dollar terms, has risen over 4000%. Gold has more value than similar metals such as copper due to its relative scarcity and difficulty to acquire.

Bitcoin has been designed to be scarce like gold and is artificially difficult to acquire through the Proof-of-Work process of mining. However, it also has an advantage over gold in being transferable through a communications channel.

Coinbase concluded:

“Armed with a myriad of technological advantages, accelerating development, and maturing global market, Bitcoin is a store of value to rival gold in the digital age.”

Halving increases scarcity

The supply of Bitcoin is limited by design, with new tokens being minted as a reward every time a block of transactions is mined. The initial reward level of 50 BTC per block has already undergone two halving events, bringing it down to the current 12.5 BTC per block.

After the May 2020 halving, mining rewards for each new block, mined approximately every ten minutes, will reduce to 6.25 BTC. This will bring the supply issuance of Bitcoin to a rate of around 1.7% per annum.

Stock-to-flow (S2F) is a measure of new supply rate over total supply, and post-halving, Bitcoin’s S2F scarcity will be on a par with gold’s.

“Gold’s stock to flow is higher than any other metal commodity, and bitcoin is set to soon follow,” notes Coinbase.


Bitcoin stock-to-flow chart. Source: medium.com/@100trillionUSD/

No value without demand

S2F forecasts for the price will fail if there is no demand, and this holds true for fiat money, as much as any other commodity. As central banks increase the money supply, economies can sometimes prosper. However, if money supply overwhelms demand then hyperinflation events can occur.

Such events drive demand for safe havens such as gold and Bitcoin, and recent economic fear is reaching all-time highs, according to the Global Economic Policy Uncertainty Index.

This, along with Bitcoin’s myriad of technological advances and accelerating development, justifies Bitcoin’s title as digital gold, according to Coinbase.

As Cointelegraph reported, senior employees of Coinbase and Ripple recently formed a working group to advise United States regulators on policies to encourage innovation in the sector.

Original article posted on the CoinTelegraph.com site, by Jack Martin.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

France’s Avril Group To Use IBM Blockchain To Track Matines Eggs

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France’s Avril Group To Use IBM Blockchain To Track Matines Eggs

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 2/7/2020 9:13 AM ET

French agribusiness Avril Group became the latest to team up with IBM Blockchain to apply blockchain technology to trace its “Matines Eggs” range from the farms to the consumers.

The tracking will be done through Cloud network IBM Food Trust solution, which is based on Blockchain Hyperledger technology.

Avril Group is the French market leader in the vegetable oil and protein industry, as well as the owner of the leading fresh egg and oil brands, Matines and Lesieur, among others. It has operations in 22 countries.

The hens that lay the eggs sold under the Matines brand are raised without antibiotic treatment, fed with 100% French cereals, and good breeding practices controlled by an independent body.

Matines egg brand will provide enhanced information and traceability of 25 references on its ranges of organic, outdoors, free-range red label, soil and standard eggs.

Customers of Matines egg brand will be able to scan a QR-code printed inside the egg box using a smartphone that will direct them to a dedicated application to access all information about the eggs’ journey from the farm to the consumer.

The information includes farming method, way the hens are fed, approach to good farming practices, date of egg laying, packing center, date on which the eggs are received, date of packaging, and the date of dispatch to the warehouses of the various distributors.

The blockchain records immutable information at each step of the process and provides transparency for consumers about claims of quality of the product they consume.

The use of blockchain for food provenance will help reduce food fraud, including mislabeled, diluted or substituted foodstuffs.

A recent IBM Institute for Business Value study found that 73% of consumers will pay a premium for full transparency into the products they buy.

IBM Food Trust network connects growers, processors, distributors, shippers, retailers, regulators, and consumers through a permissioned, permanent and shared record of food system data.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Bitcoin Prints Massive Buy Signal Suggesting Price Will Soon Retake 10000

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Bitcoin Prints Massive Buy Signal, Suggesting Price Will Soon Retake $10,000

Bitcoin (BTC) has been on a near relentless rally over the past few weeks, bounding past key price points in the $7,000s, then $8,000s, then most recently in the $9,000s. The cryptocurrency, while already up 50% in the past 45 to 50 days, still has more upside, per some prominent analysts, citing a flurry of technical factors that suggest more upside is imminent.

Bitcoin Prints Key Bullish Signal

Bitcoin’s strong rally over the past few weeks have allowed the cryptocurrency to print a flurry of positive signals on its charts.

Most recently, as pointed out by popular TradingView analyst TradingShot, the Ichimoku Cloud — a multi-faceted indicator that lets analysts determine market trends and key price points — just gave the “strongest BULL SIGNAL possible” on the daily chart for Bitcoin.

They wrote in the TradingView point that the last time the Cloud twisted bullish was in April 2019, which was prior to the over 200% rally that took Bitcoin from the $4,000s to $14,000 in a few months’ time in a parabolic fashion.

They added that with Bitcoin bouncing off the 1,000-day moving average in December 2019, that drop was likely the “bottom of the June correction,” noting that the prices around the moving average are a region where BTC classically bottomed in previous bear markets.

TradingShot’s observation of a bullish Ichimoku cross isn’t the only thing that has traders excited for the prospects of Bitcoin in the coming months.

Cryptocurrency trader Brent or Blockchainblitz recently noted that Bitcoin’s daily chart just registered a key technical signal: the 50-day moving average just today crossed above the 100-day moving average, creating a bull cross formation.

He notes that in the past eight times this technical signal was seen since 2014, a “rip upward followed.”

Indeed, our own analysis of this specific moving average cross found that this last took place when BTC was at $5,800 in early-2019, and preceded a 140% move higher. There are also the other historical instances Brent pointed to in his chart.

This confluence suggests that more upside is likely, though it is important to note short-term pullbacks can be sustained by the market to make sure that Bitcoin is not overextended.

Original article posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site, by Nick Chong.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Bitpay Restores Merchant Payments from Any Bitcoin Wallet or Exchange

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Bitpay Restores Merchant Payments from Any Bitcoin Wallet or Exchange

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 2/5/2020 9:22 AM ET

Bitcoin Payment Processor BitPay reinstated merchant payments against BitPay invoices from any cryptocurrency wallet, app or exchange. This was discontinued after users complained of delays due to network congestion and related high transaction fees at around the time when Bitcoin hit its peak in 2017.

At that time, BitPay had in place a payment protocol called “BIP70” and limited the acceptance of payments from only a few Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Ether (ETH) wallets. In addition to the BIP70 protocol, the payment processor also added the JSON payment protocol in 2018.

As it begins to add support for all Bitcoin wallets starting February 4, BitPay will continue to use the BIP70 payment protocol and JSON payment protocol.

For merchants, this move by BitPay is expected to help boost their sales and help them to access a broader customer base of crypto holders.

BitPay also framed a message to be sent by merchants to their customers on the procedure to make payments. The users have to select the wallet or exchange and follow any payment tips provided by BitPay for a successful transaction. The user has to then scan the QR code or click the QR code to copy the amount due and the address the payment is to be sent and paste it into your wallet, app or exchange to complete the required payment.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe