ChainLink (LINK) Inches Closer to 100x in Returns Since ICO

John P. Njui   •   BITCOIN (BTC) NEWS   •   August 8, 2020

In summary:

• The digital asset of ChainLink (LINK) continues on its bullish climb above $10.
• With a new all-time high of $10.77, ChainLink inches closer to providing 100x in returns for ICO investors.
• The ICO price per link was $0.11.
• ChainLink still has more room to grow in the crypto markets.
• However, caution is advised when going long on LINK.

The digital asset of ChainLink (LINK) has once again exceeded expectations by breaking away from the influence of the brief crypto pullback only 24 hours ago as a result of Bitcoin dipping to $11,300 levels. During the latter event, ChainLink only dipped to as low as $9 and soon continued on its interstellar mission above $10. At the time of writing, LINK has printed an all-time high value of around $10.77 – Binance rate.

ChainLink Inches Closer to Providing 100x in Returns since ICO

Going back in time to September 2017 during ChainLink's ICO, we find that the price per LINK on offer during the crowd sale was $0.11. Doing the math and using the new all-time high value of $10.77, this translates to a return on investment of 97%. This, in turn, means that for every $100 spent during the ICO period, investors are in profit to the amount of $9,700.

Further checking ChainLink’s current ROI on Coincodex.com, it can be revealed that those who used Ethereum and Bitcoin to participate in the crowdfunding, have an ROI of 32.54x and 71.30x respectively. Below is a screenshot elaborating on this fact.

LINK Marines Keep HODLING…till $100 per ChainLink?

Additionally, LINK marines are very much confident regarding the fundamentals governing the upward trajectory of ChainLink. The LINK marines have brushed off a report by Zeus Capital that calls the project vaporware and warns that ChainLink will fall to as low as $0.07.

Some LINK marines have gone as far as declaring that they will start taking profits when the digital asset hits $100. Below is one tweet that demonstrates investor confidence in ChainLink.

What Next for ChainLink in the Crypto Markets?

As earlier observed, the LINK/USDT chart continues on its bullish trajectory. With each all-time high that LINK sets, the digital asset provides areas of interest for possible support zones should LINK decide to correct.

However, given the current bullish momentum and possible FOMO surrounding LINK, the digital asset has a high probability of first testing $12 before any prospects of a correction.

As with all analyses of ChainLink, traders and investors are advised to use stop losses as well as low leverage to protect trading capital. Caution is also advised when going long on a parabolic chart such as ChainLink's.

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Original article posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site, by John P. Njui.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

FBI and German Authorities Team Up To Seize $30 Million In Bitcoin

By Erie Maxwell – August 7, 2020

From 2008 until 2013, Movie2K.to hosted hundreds of thousands of illegal pirated streams. They also engaged in unsavory practices such as “subscription traps,” where they lured paying customers in with false promises and made the memberships very hard to escape from.

About 2500 Bitcoin were seized from the piracy hub Movie2K

Although the authorizes wound up with a sizable 2500 Bitcoin haul, it was only peanuts compared to what Movie2K brought in. It was reported that the site pulled in 22,000 BTC in a 5 year period before being shut down in 2013.

Movie2K was shuttered in 2013 after charges of copyright infringement by the Motion Picture Association of America. 

Later on, the piracy hub became the subject of an investigation by authorities in Dresden, Germany. 

In 2019 German Authorities in Dresden nabbed a coder and a real estate entrepreneur who was involved with the site’s central operations. Both of the suspects admitted to being involved with the operation of the fraudulent piracy site and began to cooperate with authorities to take down others involved with Movie2K.

Authorities moved to seize the funds taken in by the scammers and were met with compliance by the criminals and 2500 BTC were handed over without a hassle.

According to German authorities,

“the seized bitcoins were voluntarily released by the programmer during his public prosecutor’s interrogation in order to compensate for the damage.”

Although a much larger amount of BTC was pulled in by Movie2K, German authorities say most of these funds were then spent by the site’s administrators on real estate and other investments between 2013 and 2016. 

Authorities claim, “the profits generated from advertising fees and subscription trap income have been used by the two main operators since mid-2012 to buy large amounts of bitcoins.”

This is just the latest case of BTC being used to aid in a crime. It seems that criminals like to collect bitcoin because of its permissionless nature and ease of transactions. But often a trail is left by the bad actors that lead to their arrest.

The caught perpetrators of the Movie2K scam must be reeling after having such a hefty sum seized. While committing the crime the price of one BTC was below 20 dollars. Then over the course of the next several years, the value of 2500 seized BTC touched millions of dollars.

Maybe the German authorities who seized the fortune will hold on to these coins in hopes of returning to all-time highs like the rest of the HODLers out there.

DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

The original article written by Erie Maxwell and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Agoda.com Teams Up With Travala.com To Add Crypto Payment Option

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 8/4/2020 10:42 AM ET

Online travel agency Agoda.com, a subsidiary of Booking Holdings, has teamed up with U.K.-based crypto-friendly travel booking platform Travala.com for providing seamless payments in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin for customers in addition to traditional payment methods.

Rivals in the field, Expedia and Bookings.com have already signed similar deals with Travala.com since late November 2019. Booking.com only sells hotels, while Expedia is a full service, online travel agency selling hotels, car, flights, tours as well as packages.

Digital travel platform Agoda.com has grown to offer a global network of over 2.5 million properties in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, offering travelers easy access to a wide choice of luxury and budget hotels, apartments, homes and villas, to suit all budgets and travel occasions.

Following the partnership with Agoda.com, travelers can now use Travala.com to book more than 600,000 Agoda hotels worldwide, with the option of paying in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC).

This brings the total number of accommodation listings available on the leading blockchain-based travel booking platform to over 2.2 million, covering 90,124 destinations in 230 countries and territories, where cryptocurrency can be used for payment.

"We can safely say we are the world's largest blockchain-based online travel agency by number of accommodation options available with over 2,200,000 options to book covering 90,124 destinations," said Juan Otero, CEO at Travala.com.

Backed by cryptocurrency exchange Binance, Travala.com provides option to make payments on their site using more than 30 cryptocurrencies, including their own native Travala (AVA) token, and also stablecoins. They also accept payments in Fiat and through Paypal.

In May 2020, Travala.com merged with Binance-backed crypto-friendly flight booking portal TravelbyBit to create one of the largest blockchain-based online travel agencies in the world. Travala utilizes the Binance Chain, which is the new blockchain from Binance.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Authorities Arrest 17-Year-Old Mastermind Behind The Twitter Hack Dubbed “Bit-Con”

By Erie Maxwell – July 31, 2020

The recent Twitter hack echoed through the social media universe. Scammers made off with more than a hundred thousand dollars by taking over the accounts of celebrities, politicians, and even tech giants like Apple. Twitter’s stock dropped as much as 4% after the news and the social media world was thrown into disarray.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey responded in near disbelief. 

“Tough day for us at Twitter. We all feel terrible this happened,” Dorsey tweeted. “We’re diagnosing and will share everything we can when we have a more complete understanding of exactly what happened.”

Now we know that the chaos was all caused by a teenager.

Florida State authorities have arrested 17-year-old Graham Ivan Clark and have charged him with 30 felonies as the mastermind of the great ‘Bit-Con’.

According to the Department of Justice, Graham Ivan Clark didn’t act alone. 22-year-old Mason Sheppard, of the United Kingdom, and 19-year-old Florida resident, Nima Fazeli were also arrested for their participation in criminal actions.

Florida State Attorney Andrew Warren issued a statement on the investigation and the charges. 

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Justice conducted a complex nationwide investigation, locating and apprehending the suspect in Hillsborough County.”

Warren went on to say that the true victims were not Twitter or the celebrities, but the folks who handed over their money to the sammers. 

“These crimes were perpetrated using the names of famous people and celebrities, but they’re not the primary victims here. This ‘Bit-Con’ was designed to steal money from regular Americans from all over the country, including here in Florida. This massive fraud was orchestrated right here in our backyard, and we will not stand for that.”

Bitcoin has long been associated with crime and other unsavory acts, but as the technology continues to develop, the crypto space has been moving towards projecting a more professional tone.

Although Bitcoin has been the asset of choice requested by criminals, the real issue at hand is the breach of security at a major social media company and the fraud that occurred as a result.

When one crypto enthusiast suggested that Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson should hire the young hacker, he responded promptly and negatively.

“You don’t hire criminals. If you are looking for skilled hackers, then hire the ones who get access to such powerful systems and then show the world without harming people,” Hoskinson replied.

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DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

The original article written by Erie Maxwell and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

2020 is Possibly the Last Year Bitcoin (BTC) Will Be Below $10k

John P. Njui   •   BITCOIN (BTC) NEWS   •   July 31, 2020

In brief:

• Bitcoin managed to brush off news of a shrinking US economy.
• Bitcoin has firmly regained the $11k price level.
• A previous Bloomberg report had concluded that active BTC addresses point to $12k.
• Using Metcalfe&'s Law, 2020 might be the last time Bitcoin trades below $10k.

On the last day of July, Bitcoin has shrugged off yesterday's alarming news of the US economy contracting by 32.9% in the second quarter of 2020. The lack of growth of the US economy has been linked to job losses and low consumer spending brought about by the economic effects of COVID19.

Bitcoin Firmly Regains $11k After Positive Earnings from Amazon, Apple and facebook

When news broke of a contracting US economy, the automatic response was one of caution as such information had the ability to drop the value of Bitcoin in an instant. Also yesterday, the big tech companies of Amazon, Apple and facebook released their quarterly earnings reports that propped back the stock markets. The positive news from the big tech companies also had a direct effect on Bitcoin which has since firmly regained the $11k price level. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is valued at $11,160 – Binance rate.

Bitcoin Active Addresses Point to $12k

Also to note, is that Bitcoin price is following a price prediction postulated by the team at Bloomberg in early July. According to the research team at Bloomberg, the number of active Bitcoin addresses point at BTC hitting $12k. They explained:

The number of active Bitcoin addresses used, a key signal of the 2018 price decline and 2019 recovery, suggests a value closer to $12,000, based on historical patterns.

2020 Might Be the Last Time Bitcoin is Valued Below $10k

In addition to all the positive news surrounding the crypto markets, 2020 might become the last year Bitcoin is ever valued at under $10k as shall be explained.

According to Bitcoin analysis done by Timothy Peterson of Cane Island Alternative Advisors, BTC’s value can be modeled using Metcalfe’s law. As earlier explained, Metcalfe's Law is primarily used in the Telecoms industry and Mr. Peterson has expanded on it in his analysis of Bitcoin.

Furthermore, Mr. Peterson has a very elaborate and simple chart that gives mid-November 2020, as possibly the last time Bitcoin will be valued at under $10k. Below is one of his Tweets proposing such a possibility for Bitcoin.

Money Printer Going Brrr Will Benefit Bitcoin's Value

With the Fed and European Central Bank continually printing fiat, more investors are flocking to safe-haven assets such as Gold, Silver and Bitcoin. This fact coupled with the recent bullish news of Visa, Mastercard and Paypal finally embracing crypto, it can be concluded that Bitcoin's general trajectory is up henceforth.

As with all analyses of Bitcoin, traders and investors are advised to do their own research and use adequate stop losses when trading Bitcoin.

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Original article posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site, by John P. Njui.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Crypto Hardware Wallet Maker Ledger Warns Customers Of Data Breach

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 7/29/2020 10:32 AM ET

Crypto hardware wallet maker Ledger has warned its customers about a data breach on the Ledger website in June and July, which has compromised contact and order details of 9,500 customers as well as 1 million email addresses.

Meanwhile, the company confirmed that payment information, passwords or credentials and crypto funds are safe as the data breach has no link with its hardware wallets or Ledger Live security and crypto assets.

Ledger was informed about a potential data breach on July 14 by a researcher participating in their bounty program. A week after patching the breach, the company came to know about an earlier breach in late June by an unauthorized third party.

This breach had compromised e-commerce and marketing database used to send order confirmations and promotional emails, These consisting mostly of email addresses, but with a subset including also contact and order details such as first and last name, postal address, email address and phone number.

The unauthorized third party had access to a portion of the e-commerce and marketing database through an API Key. The API key has been deactivated and is no longer accessible.

The company said it was able to fix issue immediately after a detailed internal investigation with third party experts as it was limited to ecommerce and marketing contact information.

The company is also actively monitoring online marketplaces for evidence of the stolen database being sold on the internet, but it has found none so far.

Ledger had notified the French Data Protection Authority, CNIL, about the data breach on July 17. It then partnered Orange Cyberdefense on July 21 to assess the potential damages of the data breach and identify potential data breaches.

Following the assessment, it was concluded that the ecommerce and marketing database has been breached. The company said it has already informed all affected customers through an email.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Bitcoin Retakes $11k — Further Reinforcing Analysts Take That $20,000 Is In Sight

By Adrian Klent – July 28, 2020

At the time of this writing, Bitcoin is trading at a price of $11,026, which was first attained in the last 24hrs. The entire cryptocurrency community, especially Bitcoin users on Twitter have been tweeting tirelessly about the long-awaited price rally.

At present, Bitcoin is among the global Twitter trends with more than 100,000 tweets from the community. Regardless of the constant dips, analysts are still very confident that the big bull will make a crossover, and this is reflected in the live Bitcoin trading chart.

The one-day candlestick chart conveys Bitcoin’s sloppy movement from when Bitcoin hit $10,000 on the 27th of July, at 16:00 (UTC), and crossed over to $10,300. For the next two hours, the bears tested their luck but couldn’t hold strong as the mild bullish reversal steered the rally.

On the 27th of July, Bitcoin crossed the $10,600 and $10,800 resistance levels and hit $11,000. The daily all-time high was at $11,256, a mid dip sent Bitcoin below that price but the $11,000 price range was still maintained up until 8:00 am (UTC).

The momentum was lost shortly after and another dip to $10,700 was witnessed. Since then, the bulls have been struggling to stay afloat but power has been exchanged severally between bulls and bears. While bears’ impulse isn’t strong enough to pull the big bull below the $10,000 price mark, at least within the next few hours, the bulls will need to maintain the $10,500 mark as the minimum support level or Bitcoin might retest previous support. Hitting the $11,500 high could happen anytime soon. The next 24hrs could set Bitcoin in motion for $12,000 or prices could trade within the $11,000 and $10,000 if the market goes sideways.

Meanwhile, analysts are firmly stating that a $20,000 price may be attained sooner than later. As July comes to close, analysts are more bullish than ever. Popular analyst MoonCarl tweeted earlier today saying the bear market was over. If this is the case indeed, Bitcoin may trade above $10,000 through the rest of the year.

The editor at Kraken, Pete Rizzo also said that the ongoing bull run during this time translates to Bitcoin entering an “uncharted territory.”

MoonCarl wrapped up with another bold tweet that is being echoed by many. But whether or not Bitcoin hits $20,000 in the coming months, the bulls are once again largely in control of the market and new all-time highs may be attained from here on out.

DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

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The original article written by Adrian Klent and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Cellebrite Launches CipherTrace-powered Crypto Tracer Solution

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 7/28/2020 10:17 AM ET

Digital intelligence firm Cellebrite teamed up with blockchain security firm CipherTrace to launch a Crypto Tracer solution to provide investigators with visibility to track illicit cryptocurrency movement by offering cryptocurrency tracing and blockchain analytic capabilities.

The solution will help accelerate investigations involving blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. It will help investigators to lawfully obtain evidence and trace criminals who use bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for illicit activities, including money laundering, terrorism, drug and human trafficking, weapon sales, and ransomware schemes.

The CipherTrace Inspector-powered solution encompasses powerful and easy-to-use tools, investigation services, and training programs designed for investigators, analysts and non-technical agents. It helps investigators to aggregate and curate millions of open source and private references, deception data and human intelligence, providing full visibility into the lifespan of cryptocurrency transactions.

The graphic mapping and color-coded threat level transactions enhance the visualization and understanding of the activities and accelerate investigators' abilities to pinpoint primary and associated criminal activity and its perpetrators.

It is estimated that about $76 billion of illegal activities involve Bitcoin every year. Also, nearly all darknet market transactions involve cryptocurrencies, due to their ease of transacting online and across borders.

There has been a misconception and has long been assumed that blockchain and cryptocurrency transactions remain untraceable and unknown. The essence of blockchain is to indelibly keep a record of each step of every transaction and this helps to identify illicit blockchain activity by interpreting the data.

The perceived anonymity has encouraged criminals to use cryptocurrencies for illicit activity. All the transactions are recorded on the blockchain, which is a public ledger, enabling anyone to see the transactions, but they cannot see the identities of those executing the transactions.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe