Texas Regulator Lists Cryptocurrencies Among Top Threats To Investors

By | |
Leave a comment

Texas Regulator Lists Cryptocurrencies Among Top Threats To Investors

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 1/23/2020 10:32 AM ET

The Texas State Securities Board or TSSB listed cryptocurrencies to be among the top threats to investors. This was revealed in the 10th anniversary edition of the Texas Investor Guide published by the TSSB under the title “Strategies for Investing Wisely and Avoiding Financial Fraud.”

The regulator lists cryptocurrency offerings as a threat to investors as they are extraordinarily volatile or risky and almost impossible for a layperson to understand. Cryptocurrency prices continue to be in a constant cycle of boom and bust.

Cryptocurrencies became popular at a time when bitcoin reached a record high of $19,891 in December 2017, an increase of 1,800 percent for the year. However, the price had dropped to $6,846 in less than two months later.

Investors began looking at virtual currencies as a quick path to wealth. Even seniors and retirees got easily persuaded to invest in initial coin offerings and cryptocurrency mining pools.

This has resulted in a huge number of cryptocurrency-related cases that have and are being investigated by the TSSB. In fiscal year 2019, 30 percent of the investigations opened by the Enforcement Division involved cryptocurrency offerings.

The TSSB has been one of the most active state regulators with regard to cryptocurrencies for the well-being of investors in Texas. It was the first to enter an order against a cryptocurrency firm and has reportedly entered the most orders of any state regulator.

Since April 2018, the Texas state regulator found widespread violations of the Texas Securities Act in cryptocurrency offerings during an investigation of investment offerings that were tied to virtual currencies.

In the current publication, the regulator warned investors not to invest in cryptocurrency offerings unless they can determine some basic facts about the company, primarily the identity of principals and its physical location. Otherwise, the investor will end up transferring funds to anonymous third parties at undisclosed locations.

Additionally, the TSSB urges the potential investors to see audited records or other financial information to back up any claims of high profits. Most important, it urges investors to deal with registered parties.

The regulator states that the state of Texas’ rigorous registration requirements applies equally to traditional securities and emerging securities, including products tied to cryptocurrencies. It warns that the investor will have little or no recourse if their money is stolen.

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

Here’s Why a Top Analyst Thinks XRP Is Ready to Surge 20

By | |
Leave a comment

Here’s Why a Top Analyst Thinks XRP Is Ready to Surge 20%

XRP Preparing to Rally Higher

XRP really hasn’t done well over the past 12 months, actually posting a negative return of around -50% in 2019 in a year when Bitcoin gained 95% in and of itself and assets across the board exploded higher.

The bulls are purportedly about to push the third-largest cryptocurrency higher. Trader Galaxy noted that XRP is “looking ready” to rally 20% or so higher towards $0.28, drawing attention to the existence of a clear uptrend and the fact that the asset has flipped a number of key resistances into supports, boding well for the bullish case.

Galaxy isn’t the only bull.

Analyst CryptoWolf recently noted that per his earlier analysis, XRP has finally started to decisively break out of a falling wedge pattern that has constrained price action for the past seven months. The cryptocurrency has also surmounted a key horizontal resistance that has been important on a macro basis.

With this in mind, he suggested in the below chart that he expects for XRP to target the 0.382 Fibonacci Retracement of the entire falling wedge over the coming weeks, which suggests a 25% rally is on the horizon.

Aside from the technical and charting bull case, there are some positive fundamental factors.

Per previous reports from Ethereum World News, world’s largest crypto payment processor BitPay is now allowing “cryptocurrency consumers [to] spend XRP with BitPay merchants and clients can pay BitPay invoices with a digital asset designed for global payments.”

Although not enabled by default, global merchants using BitPay like Microsoft, NewEgg, Dish Networks, FanDuel, and Avnet will be able to activate XRP payment support without “any additional integration.”

Altcoins Won’t Survive in Long Run

Although analysts are sure of XRP’s potential to surge higher, some have expressed doubts over the long-term viability of altcoins as an investment.

A Reddit user found that by diversifying a $1,000 portfolio into the top 10 crypto assets (Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, etc.) at 10% for each coin, his portfolio gained 1.7% in an entire year. During that same time span, Bitcoin gained 95% in and of itself and traditional asset classes gained dozens of percent and saw near-record gains.

Not to mention, analyst Ceteris Paribus recently noted that the launch of the CME’s Bitcoin options could be bearish for altcoins: “If it isn’t obvious, the more we see products like this get offered the more bearish it is for the majority of alts,” they wrote.

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

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Canadian Government to Use Blockchain to Trace Steel Supply Chain

By | |
Leave a comment

Canadian Government to Use Blockchain to Trace Steel Supply Chain

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 1/21/2020 9:22 AM ET

The Canadian Government is planning to use blockchain technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to track the steel industry supply chain for Canadian and possibly North American business users and government.

The Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), a government agency, has awarded a C$169,427 or about $130,000 worth contract to Canadian enterprise blockchain start-up Mavennet Systems, Inc. to develop the digital tracing platform by combining the two technologies.

Canada's steel industry is a major international exporter, especially to the U.S.

The solution is intended to provide real-time insights and information to users within minutes of upload on smart phone and web interface, to digitally automate steel supply chain transactions.

The use blockchain technology is expected to ensure secure, accurate and transparency of data. It will also maintain a full digital trail in case of input errors. Users must be able to rectify mistakes by "adding onto the log", rather than deleting mistakes entirely.

Meanwhile, the use of AI enabled data analytics will better capture activities across the steel supply chain. Using AI will enable information on past, current and predicted demand for any input and output and predicting downstream product volume from supply products.

The platform is also expected to provide a comprehensive digital breakdown of the component parts of steel and steel products, such as coal, iron ore, nickel, steel scrap, and finished steel products.

In November last year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)'s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) awarded a grant of $182,700 to Mavennet Systems to develop a blockchain-powered solution to track cross-border oil import.

Under the terms, Mavennet is required to modify its existing oil and gas tracking platform to meet the requirements of the U.S. Custom and Border Protection (CBP) to track cross-border oil imports.

The CPB expects the new platform to track the evidence of oil flow through pipelines and refinement between the U.S. and Canada and attribute oil imports with the accurate composition and country of origin.

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

Why Centralized Exchanges are Decentralizing

By | |
Leave a comment

Why Centralized Exchanges are Decentralizing


Image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

            JAN 19, 2020

In an industry built on an ethos of decentralization and the empowerment of individuals, where the key idea is that each and every person should have control of their own wealth and begin acting as their own bank, we’ve seen centralized custodial exchanges lead the charge up until now. Now, as the industry continues to develop ethos, we’re seeing centralized exchanges beginning to adopt more properties of decentralization.

Decentralization advances the protection of funds, transparency, economic inclusion and regulatory clarity while empowering each individual to become the custodians of their own funds. As centralized exchanges begin to recognize the benefits of decentralizing, the end result is a stronger, more trusting consumer and industry.

Trust

Trust is the foundation on which all relationships are built — with partners, family, friends and businesses — all are rooted deeply in trust. But trust isn’t given freely, it must be earned. Trust is more than an asset, it is the lifeline that dictates the longevity of a relationship.

The loss of trust in centralized entities has given birth to blockchain, a technology based on decentralization, in the hopes of redefining the concept of trust for the next wave of financial systems.

Blockchain technology has the potential to turn financial systems upside down by redefining trust. However, we mustn’t be misinformed. Just because an organization or business claims to employ blockchain technology, this doesn’t automatically make them more trustworthy. The trustworthiness in blockchain stems from the design choices businesses make when employing them.

We are reminded from time to time of the consequences of these design choices. This includes over $4 billion in stolen funds from crypto-related cyberattacks in 2019, with some of the biggest exchanges targeted by cybercriminals. Most notable this year are the incidents on Coinbase, Binance and BitHumb. These are all reminders of how people’s trust in blockchain has been tarnished. The foundations of the technology looking to disrupt the financial systems are still fragile.

But it doesn’t have to be this way

And for this reason, leaders in the industry are making design choices that entirely change how trust is handled. These leaders are decentralizing key business functions to strengthen their foundation. This can be seen first and foremost with exchanges and custody solutions that are transitioning to non-custodial solutions. On an exchange that uses custodial solutions, users need to deposit their funds into a centrally controlled wallet in order to trade. Non-custodial solutions, however, allow users to fully interact with the exchange without requiring deposits into a centrally controlled wallet. Access and control of funds never sits with a third-party, only with the owner of the funds, and counterparty risk is completely removed.

To illustrate this point, imagine the following scenario with centralized, custodial solutions. John wants to buy one BTC with another digital currency, such as EOS. To buy this Bitcoin, John must first transfer his EOS onto an exchange. Once the EOS enters the exchange, he can then interact with the exchange and trade his EOS for the one Bitcoin. At this stage, John is essentially trusting the exchange to hold custody over his assets. During this time, his assets are exposed to several risks. His assets are vulnerable to hackers, exchange shutdowns, flight risks, insolvency or freezing of his account. In all cases, John may lose access to his funds forever.

The scenario is quite different for non-custodial solutions. Non-custodial solutions eliminate the need to trust a third-party with precious assets. Assuming again that John wants to buy one BTC with his EOS, he would go on a non-custodial exchange and initiate a trade for one Bitcoin directly from his wallet. John does this through a trustless smart contract, a transparent computer protocol which enforces the performance of a contract when certain conditions are met. In this case, John agrees to the actions being taken on his funds, and that there are no errors in the transaction. The smart contract recognizes that John has deposited enough EOS to receive one Bitcoin, and the trade is executed, resulting in one BTC being deposited directly into John’s wallet. At this stage, John can do whatever he wishes with his new Bitcoin, as it is already in his possession. He has avoided all the risks of entrusting a central intermediary with custody of his assets.

Decentralizing the element of custody — a small change in business models — ultimately leads to the decentralization of trust. By redefining how trust is handled through a trustless system, exchanges are slowly rebuilding some of the lost reputation with consumers while paving the way for new relationships, where the element of trust is no longer an obstacle in doing business.

Decentralization redistributes power and trust

As centralized entities shift their focus toward decentralization, the end result is beneficial to both consumers and the industry. Decentralization promotes security, transparency, financial inclusion and regulatory clarity, and empowers the individual.

The decentralization of custody means that we are no longer trusting a single entity to have authority over deposits, withdrawals, and the storage and security of funds. Customer funds will no longer be centrally located, giving birth to an entirely new paradigm. Institutions and exchanges will no longer be a central point of attack, eliminating the lurking fear of victimization by cybercriminals, who will no longer be in a position to engage in foul play with funds.

Decentralization redistributes power and trust back to the individual. Gone are the days where customers can’t withdraw or access their funds due to an exchange becoming hacked or insolvent. Customers can instantly interact with multiple exchanges without waiting to transfer funds from one exchange to another.

Decentralization is more secure by design, and in an industry expecting $5 trillion in losses due to cybercrime in 2021, it’s important that industry leaders innovate to meet this challenge. Losses and exchange hacks are some of the biggest concerns of regulatory authorities, but decentralization can relieve most of them.

The hurdles faced in adopting decentralized solutions

While decentralizing certain business aspects has clear benefits, there are several obstacles businesses must overcome before they can deliver the same user experience as their nondecentralized counterparts and achieve wider adoption. Three of the biggest hurdles to the widespread use of decentralized financial systems are:

  1. Liquidity: Exchanges that are based on decentralization have significantly less liquidity compared to their centralized counterparts. The widespread use of these exchanges has yet to reach the majority of users, as there is an entirely new learning curve in getting accustomed to such platforms. Users need to learn how to keep custody of their own funds while connecting their wallets to the platform. The lack of users equates to a lack of liquidity, so it’s important for exchanges to attract more users or to provide liquidity from other sources.
  2. Throughput and speed: Throughput and speed are limitations of decentralized exchanges. These exchanges often rely on a blockchain network for settling trades. So, exchanges that are built on Ethereum for example are at the mercy of Ethereum’s maximum transaction throughput of about 15 transactions per second. Even if millions of users were to switch to a decentralized exchange today, some exchanges wouldn’t be in a position to adequately handle the demand. Exchanges need to be able to handle hundreds, if not thousands, of trades their users make each second. A low transaction throughput limit can cause major delays in transactions or even prevent them from being executed and can lead to millions of dollars in losses.
  3. User experience and features: With decentralized exchanges still in the early stages of development, they are often lacking in features, putting limitations on users’ trading experience. Different order types, from basic limit orders to more advanced order types like Immediate or Cancel orders, and Fill or Kill orders are often missing on decentralized exchanges. Other users may need to margin trade or connect with the exchange’s API to get real-time financial data for analysis. The truth is, users won’t make the transition to a platform that is lacking features that are critical to their trading strategies.

Instilling trust today for the financial systems of tomorrow

The financial systems of tomorrow will be responsible for the trade of real estate, gold, money, securities, cryptocurrencies and other assets, digitally. With trillions of dollars flowing through these systems, the design choices we make today are more important than ever in instilling trust in these systems — trust that our assets are always in our possession; trust that our assets are secure; trust that the companies we do business with are being honest and fair.

Decentralization, when executed properly, results in systems that offer more transparent, secure and higher-performing solutions. It is an essential building block for systems to build trust. Successful implementation of decentralized technology means empowerment for millions of people, whereas failure will result in the loss of all its benefits.

For the greater good of financial systems and their participants, conscious steps toward decentralization need to be taken.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Original article posted on the CoinTelegraph.com site, by Steven Quinn.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Why Bitcoin Price Still Has Surge Potential After Impressive 43 Monthly Gain

By | |
Leave a comment

Why Bitcoin Price Still Has Surge Potential After Impressive 43% Monthly Gain

Bitcoin has been on an absolute tear over the past month or so. Since hitting $6,400, seemingly establishing a bottom, the leading cryptocurrency BTC has surged by 43%, recently hitting a price as high as $9,175 as reported by Ethereum World News earlier today.

This already makes BTC one of the best-performing assets of 2020 and the new decade, only being outpaced by a select few stocks and other digital assets such as the hardfork Bitcoin Satoshi's Vision, which has exploded higher off news that Craig S. Wright may be moving closer to a cryptocurrency stash he purports to have, and Ethereum Classic.

With the digital asset market already surging so far higher to start 2020, analysts have been wondering if more gains are possible.

Interestingly, the consensus is that BTC will continue higher into the block reward reduction for BTC, which will most likely activate in May of this year.

Why Bitcoin Price Still Has Upside

Analysts across the board are convinced BTC’s uptrend is not done yet.

Fundstrat Global Advisors, a top market strategy and sector research company based in New York, recently released its 2020 Crypto Outlook to its clients. The firm identified three factors that will give BTC a “strong probability” of gaining over 100% in 2020, meaning a year-end price of over $15,000, due to a confluence of three primary factors:

  1. The Bitcoin halving: The crypto-friendly firm first looked to the May 2020 so-called “halving” or “halvening,” when the block reward of Bitcoin gets cut in half, effectively resulting in a 50% decrease in the inflation rate of the leading cryptocurrency. Analysts say that this should cause a supply crunch in the cryptocurrency market that could push prices dramatically higher.
  2. Geopolitical risk: Fundstrat next looked at potential geopolitical risks. With the ongoing conflicts between the U.S. and China, the U.S. and Iran, and other spats taking place across the globe, BTC may begin to prove itself as a digital, non-sovereign store of value in these trying times.
  3. 2020's presidential election: Lastly, the firm looked to the 2020 elections. This point was not expanded upon in a sneak peek of the report, though there are notable a few candidates who are more crypto-friendly than others, such as Andrew Yang, and some uncertainty around the election that could push capital towards safe havens.

On the technical side of things, pseudonymous trader Dave the Wave, who called BTC's decline from prices above $10,000 to $6,400, said that he expects for BTC to hit $11,500 by the middle of February.

Backing this prediction, Dave looked to a confluence of factors:

  1. Bitcoin recently broke above a descending channel that has constrained price action for more than six months, marking a large win for bulls.
  2. The weekly Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) is starting to trend higher once again, which was a signal seen in 2015/2016 as BTC moved from a bear market to bull.

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

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

CHO Group To Use IBM Blockchain For Traceability Of Olive Oil

By | |
Leave a comment

CHO Group To Use IBM Blockchain For Traceability Of Olive Oil

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 1/15/2020 9:22 AM ET

Tunisian olive oil producer CHO Group teamed up with IBM Blockchain to apply blockchain technology to provide consumers traceability for its 'Terra Delyssa extra virgin olive oil' from the olive orchards to the consumers.

Terra Delyssa extra virgin olive oil will be tracked using the blockchain-based Cloud network IBM Food Trust solution, which is based on Blockchain Hyperledger technology.

Terra Delyssa, which is claimed to be grown in CHO's pesticide-free orchards with 320 days of sun, is first cold pressed under the highest standards for quality and is made entirely from a single source.

CHO has already begun using IBM Food Trust network to manage and record traceability data for its extra virgin line, the highest grade of olive oil as classified by the International Olive Oil Council and the USDA.

Customers of Terra Delyssa global retailers will be able to scan a QR-code on each label using a smartphone to view a provenance record, starting with its most recent harvest in November last year that is now being bottled. All data about Terra Delyssa lots are being uploaded to the distributed ledger.

Consumers can track the product across eight quality assurance checkpoints, including the orchard where the olives were grown, the mill where olives were crushed, and the facilities where the oil was filtered, bottled, distributed, and more.

Terra Delyssa's fully traceable extra virgin olive oil is currently being bottled and expected to reach store shelves at major retailers in the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Denmark and Japan by March.

Media coverage of olive oil mislabeling and illicit counterfeit olive oil operations had caused general confusion about how olive oils are blended, and was driving consumer distrust.

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.

ecosystem for entrepreneurs
Markethive Advertisement

IBM Food Trust network connects growers, processors, distributors, shippers, retailers, regulators, and consumers through a permissioned, permanent and shared record of food system data. This will enable them to work together to trace and authenticate products or optimize supply chain processes.

CHO is the latest major food provider to join IBM Food Trust. Other firms include Carrefour, Topco Associates, Wakefern, BeefChain, Dennick Fruit Source, Scoular, and Smithfield as well as other multinational companies such as Nestlé, Kroger, Tyson Foods, and Unilever.

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 Leaps Towards 9000 As Bulls Make Solid Move

By | |
Leave a comment

Bitcoin Leaps Towards $9000 As Bulls Make Solid Move

By Joji Xavier | Published: 1/17/2020 9:53 AM ET

Bitcoin continued its rally towards the $10000 mark this week, reaching as high as $8950 on Friday. It was the best price recorded in 67 days, and in 2020.

That was more than $1100 higher than the price recorded last Friday.

In the last seven days, the most popular cryptocurrency improved its value by more than 12 percent.

At the time of writing this, Bitcoin was trading at $8825.

Bitcoin has been showing signs of resurgence in the New Year after a relatively dull December.

After dipping below $7000 on January 2, the coin displayed a strong performance by rising steadily overall, and within the next two weeks, it crossed the $7000 and $8,000 resistance levels, and headed towards the key resistance level of $9000.

Bitcoin's bulls have been making a solid move in the past three days. The current trend gives a strong indication that Bitcoin is entering into bullish territory.

Ether also made substantial gains in the past seven days. From $140 last Friday, the second most popular cryptocurrency rose to $168 today, marking a 20 percent increase. That was Ether's best price since November 20.

As of Friday, Bitcoin has a market capitalization of $160.7 billion, and a 24 hour trade volume of $34 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Ether has a market capitalization of $18.45 billion, and a 24-hour trade volume of $14 billion.

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

US Congress Looks at Role of Crypto and Internet in Funding Hate Crimes

By | |
Leave a comment

US Congress Looks at Role of Crypto and Internet in Funding Hate Crimes


Image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

                       JAN 15, 2020

The House Financial Services Committee has raised concerns over the use of cryptocurrencies to fund domestic terrorism in the United States.

In a Jan. 15 hearing, the FSC Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy has examined how U.S. financial institutions can combat domestic terrorism, extremism and acts of hate.

Titled “A Persistent and Evolving Threat: An Examination of the Financing of Domestic Terrorism and Extremism,” the hearing featured five witnesses reporting on various fundraising methods used by organized domestic extremists. Particularly, the officials and executives have outlined crypto as an important fundraising tool for hate crimes, emphasizing that criminal funding is often distributed via popular social media platforms like Facebook and Telegram.

Facebook and Telegram help domestic extremists get funding through Bitcoin

Jared Maples, Director of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, the first witness to address the matter in the hearing, stressed that the U.S. authorities should be closely looking to the use of crypto in funding acts of domestic extremism. Noting that foreign terrorist organizations have used Telegram and Facebook to solicit funding through Bitcoin (BTC) the official listed a number of incidents that involved the cryptocurrency.

Projecting that organized domestic extremists will continue to fund their activities via crypto alongside selling counterfeit goods, drug and weapon trafficking, cigarette smuggling, Maples called Congress to not ignore the industry as a source of funding hate crimes in the U.S.:

“We cannot discount the future role of cryptocurrencies in funding acts of domestic extremism, both within New Jersey and across the United States.”

Supremacy groups turning to Bitcoin as they are cut off from traditional payment processors

Rena Miller, specialist in financial economics at the Congressional Research Service, pointed out that combating the financing of extremist groups in the U.S. poses some new challenges due to the emergence of newer online methods of fundraising. In this regard, the executive cited a 2017 study by the Anti Defamation League (ADL) that claims that supremacy groups in the U.S. tend to be decentralized rather than highly organized, often relying on crypto.

 

As the study also outlined the role of social media and crypto for these domestic extremists, Miller suggested that the U.S. government should be collecting and analyzing financial data more extensively. As part of the effort, authorities should have access to data provided on social media and payment processors. She said:

“Cross-cutting issues that span different areas of congressional oversight may become more important; for example, access to data provided on social media sites and payment platforms.”

ADL exec stresses that Bitcoin is still transparent despite its anonymity

George Selim, senior vice president of programs at the Anti-Defamation League, emphasized that transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain are still transparent and can be tracked despite its anonymous character. In this context, Selim mentioned Neonazi BTC Tracker, a Twitter bot that posts information related to certain identified Bitcoin wallets. Specifically, Selim noted that Stormfront, the oldest and largest white supremacist website on the Internet, received about $30,000 in Bitcoin prior to October 2017, while white supremacist hacker Andrew Auernheimer received more than a million dollars in the cryptocurrency.

The executive concluded that Congress should fund a significant study into how crypto is used in funding domestic hate crimes. Selim also suggested that the U.S. should create a certain framework that allows platforms that enables crypto-related platforms track online transactions and prevent the potential for exploitation of their services. He noted:

“New forms of financial products and services, including cryptocurrencies, should be addressed. Analysis should cover challenges as well as opportunities inherent in these new financial products and services for those endeavoring to stop the funding of hate and violence.”

While the U.S. is trying to address all possible terrorist financing loopholes against the backdrop of disturbing rise of domestic terrorism and hate crimes, some experts claim that crypto is “poor form of money” for terrorists. Back in 2018, U.S. Congress concluded that terrorist groups that attempted to raise funds via crypto have not had great success. Similarly, U.S. nonprofit think tank RAND Corporation said that crypto is not well-suited for the needs of terrorist groups.

ecosystem for entrepreneurs
Markethive Advertisement

Meanwhile, the European Union has recently enforced another important anti-money laundering law that aims to bring more transparency to financial transactions for combating money laundering and terrorist financing. Came into effect on Jan. 10, the European Union’s 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive has apparently forced some crypto firms in Europe to shut down their businesses, partly due to requirements to disclose too much information about their clients.

Original article posted on the CoinTelegraph.com site, by Helen Partz.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

If Bitcoin’s Price Holds This Level 9000 Can Come Quick

By | |
Leave a comment

If Bitcoin's Price Holds This Level, $9,000 Can Come Quick

Bitcoin (BTC) bulls don’t seem to be letting up the pressure. Over the past few hours, the price of the leading cryptocurrency has rocketed higher again, just tapping $8,800 just a few dozen minutes ago as of the time of writing this article. With this latest move, BTC is now up 30% from the latest lows around $6,800 and up 35% from the seeming macro lows of $6,400.

While the bullish pressure has left off slightly, with Bitcoin falling 2% or 3% from the local high of $8,880, analysts are still optimistic that a push higher into the $9,000 range can be had, if this one level is held anyway.

Bitcoin Needs to Hold $8,750

As of the time of writing this, BTC is trading at $8,729. According to prominent cryptocurrency trader Josh Rager, if “BTC can hold above $8750, we should see it push up to $9000 – $9100.” This would represent around a 4% move higher and may set the cryptocurrency up for even more gains in the future.

The technical indicators corroborate the idea that Bitcoin will soon continue to press higher.

Firstly, Mohit Sorout, a partner at Bitazu Capital, noted that with BTC’s latest spike higher, it has broken above two key downtrend resistances that have constrained price action for the past seven months. Not to mention, the one-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) and On-Balance Volume (OBV) indicators have broken past similar downtrends, suggesting more upside is imminent.

Notably, the RSI metric is not yet above 70, meaning that the price of BTC is currently not overextended, implying the price has room to run.

Also, Financial Survivalism, a pseudonymous cryptocurrency trader that called BTC’s ongoing price explosion when Bitcoin was in the low-$7,000s, pointed out that the Ichimoku Cloud — a sort of all-in-one indicator showing key price points and trends — is “fully bullish,” with the indicator printing three distinct signals that suggest prices will appreciate.

Not to mention, altcoins have absolutely exploded higher, with the prices of Ethereum, XRP, Bitcoin Satoshi Vision, and just about everything else in this market seeing gains exceeding that of BTC. The leading cryptocurrency may follow these altcoins higher in the coming days.

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

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Samsung And Syniverse To Simplify Mobile Payment System

By | |
Leave a comment

Samsung And Syniverse To Simplify Mobile Payment System

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 1/10/2020 9:02 AM ET

Samsung SDS America, the IT arm of South Korean conglomerate Samsung, and U.S.-based Syniverse are combining their mobile and blockchain technologies to develop a common payment platform that makes the users' mobile phone the easiest payment means. A memorandum of understanding to this effect was signed at the 2020 International CES.

Under the partnership, Samsung SDS's Nexledger Universal blockchain platform will be integrated with Syniverse's industry-leading blockchain solution, Universal Commerce, and market-aware Mobile Engagement platform.

This will enable development of a mobile payment platform for cross-region transactions, and that comply with regulations. This will particularly help mobile operators and companies dealing in logistics, financial, travel and hospitality, media and entertainment, and retail.

The use of blockchain along with the scalability and flexibility of Nexledger Universal, and Syniverse's decades of payment and settlement experience, is expected to deliver a frictionless phone-to-phone or phone-to-merchant payment engine for secure, simple exchange of value. It will also addressing the ever-increasing regulatory requirements.

The common payment platform will work with any mobile operator and allow any mobile user to send money, loyalty points, or other digital currencies to other mobile users or merchants across the globe.

The Nexledger platform allows enterprises to take control of distributed transactions, securely and conveniently. It also offers a flexible application programming interface that can be applied to different blockchains like Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric and Samsung's own Nexledger Consensus Algorithm.

Meanwhile, Syniverse's mobile technology products and services provide a secure instant-access platform for seamless, customizable multi-channel messaging and connectivity. The platform connects more than 7 billion mobile devices in 158 countries and annually processes more than $35 billion in transactions for mobile operators and enterprises.

Syniverse's Universal Commerce blockchain service simplifies, accelerates, and secures multiparty agreements by replacing manual processes with smart contracts, unifying data records, and providing encryption.

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