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Crypto Guides

Litecoin – Short guide to The Bitcoin Of Altcoins!

Introduction

Litecoin is an early Bitcoin spinoff as it was started in October 2011. It was created by Charlie Lee, who was a Google employee and a former director at Coinbase. Litecoin is a peer to peer cryptocurrency released via an open-source client through Github under the MIT/X11 license. It is one of the most commonly traded coins in the world of cryptocurrency and has a market value of billions. Forked initially from Bitcoin protocol, Litecoin takes the underlying source code from Bitcoin and making specific changes to increase the transaction speed of the network.

Objective

Litecoin is famously called silver to the bitcoin’s gold, i.e., in the world of cryptocurrency; if bitcoin is gold, then Litecoin is like silver. Mainly Litecoin was developed to overcome the shortcomings of Bitcoin. When it comes to the block time (the time taken to generate a block), Litecoin takes 2.5 mins to create a block while bitcoin takes 10 mins for the same. Hence, the Litecoin network is four times faster than the Bitcoin network.

Consensus Used

Litecoin uses a proof of work algorithm called Scrypt. Unlike Bitcoin’s Proof of work algorithm (SHA 256), Scrypt is more efficient as it prevents customization for hardware solutions and favors high-speed random-access memory. Hence miners find it easy to mine without much complexity as this algorithm allows them to use central processing units or graphics processing units.

Market Capitalization

Litecoin is in sixth place in terms of market cap in the cryptocurrency world with $3.9 Billion value while the price of each coin is at $61.70 as of October 27th, 2019. 63.5 million number of coins are in circulation in the market with 24-hour trading volume as $4.3 Billion.

Price History

Litecoin was traded first with a price of $4.30 in April 2013. By November 2013, it was selling at a double-digit price of $35.78. The form then has seen a continuous downfall and maintained a moderate standard rate until April 2017. It had seen a slow and steady rise from April 2017 with $10.28 to $297.18 in Jan 2018. The coin has yet again seen a downfall in 2018, with a price of $30.99 by December 31st, 2018. This crypto has been performing well in 2019 when compared to the previous year, with its highest rate in the year with $145.45 in June 2019. Industry experts are bullish about the growth of the coin due to its transaction speed and other vital properties.

Total number of Coins

Cryptocurrencies have a cap when it comes to production. While Bitcoin has a cap of 21 million coins, Litecoin has a cap of 84 million coins, which means only 84 million Litecoins can be ever mined from the network.

Rewards

For running and maintaining the network, the miners are rewarded for each block generated. Litecoin network rewards the miners with 25 Litecoins for every block generated. However, the reward gets halved for every 8,40,000 blocks made. In August 2019, the network halved the rewards as the milestone was reached, and hence the reward as of now per block is only 12.5 LTC.

Bottom line

The main aim of any cryptocurrency is to stabilize itself as a medium of exchange. While Litecoin has approximately around 100,000 users, it is nowhere near to be the standard medium of exchange amongst the cryptocurrencies. Still, as the usage of cryptocurrencies increases, Litecoin holds an excellent position to attain the place due to its transaction speed.

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Crypto Videos

Cryptocurrency – Coin Vs Token – Which Is Better?

Cryptocurrency Coin vs. Token

Before we jump into the comparison, let’s start with understanding the definition of cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that are secured with encryption. This encryption is created by using cryptography, which is simply the use of encryption techniques to secure and verify the transfer of transactions.
Bitcoin is considered the first decentralized cryptocurrency. It is powered by blockchain, a public ledger that records and validates all transactions that happen on it. Even though Bitcoin was not the first cryptocurrency, its creation is extremely important as it is the first distributed and decentralized one. The creation of Bitcoin managed to start a whole market of other cryptocurrencies (coins and tokens) that are regarded as cryptocurrencies even though most of them do not fall under the definition of a “currency,” but rather try to solve a different problem in society.

Cryptocurrency Categorisation

As previously mentioned, the term cryptocurrency is not completely accurate for most cryptocurrencies. In order for a cryptocurrency to be considered a currency, it technically needs to represent a unit of account, a store of value, and a medium of exchange.
These currency characteristics are inherent within Bitcoin, and since the whole cryptocurrency industry started with Bitcoin’s creation, the rest of the cryptocurrencies began being called currencies. In order to better understand the nature of cryptocurrencies, there are a couple of categorizations. We will talk about the most common one today. Cryptocurrencies can be separated into:
Coins (Altcoins), Tokens.

Coins


Alternative cryptocurrency can also be called altcoins or simply “coins.” Altcoin simply refers to coins that are not Bitcoin. Most altcoins came to life as a fork of Bitcoin, built using Bitcoin’s original protocol with a couple of changes to its underlying codes. These changes are, even though seemingly small, what actually sets these new coins apart from Bitcoin, as they offer a different set of features to it.
A concept of modifying open source codes to create new coins is called hard forks, while a change to a code that does not create a new cryptocurrency is called a soft fork. A few examples of altcoins that came from Bitcoin’s code are Namecoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Private, Auroracoin…
However, not all altcoins came from Bitcoin’s code. There are altcoins that have created their own Blockchain as well as a protocol that supports their native currency.

These coins include Ethereum, Ripple, Bitshares, NEO, Waves. What sets altcoins apart is that they each possess their own independent blockchain. This blockchain is where all transactions of their native currency occur.

Tokens

Tokens are considered a representation of an asset or utility that resides on top of another blockchain. Tokens do not have their own blockchains as altcoins do. They can represent basically any asset that is fungible and tradable. This could range anywhere from commodities to loyalty points.

Creating a token is a much easier task than creating a coin. This is simply because the code from a particular protocol does not have to be modified in order to create a token. Platforms such as Ethereum or Waves offer certain guidelines which, if followed, allow anyone to create a token. Creating tokens is made possible through the use of smart contracts. Smart-contracts are programmable computer codes that are self-executing as long as the terms are met. They don’t need any third-parties to operate.
As tokens built on the same blockchain have the same template, they share many characteristics. This provides a standard interface for interoperability between tokens, which allows people to store different types of tokens on a single wallet. A great example is the ERC-20 standard on the Ethereum blockchain, which has been used to create over a thousand tokens. Most (if not all) of these tokens can be stored on ERC-20 wallets.

Tokens are mostly created and distributed through an Initial Coin Offering (ICO). An ICO is simply a way of crowdfunding where developers fund their projects through the release of a new token or a promise of a token. The ICO market has been filled with successful as well as very unsuccessful projects. There were also a lot of scams on the market as people were buying anything and everything during the time of the cryptocurrency price boom of late 2017. Nowadays, the ICO market has died down compared to 2017 but is still active. However, people are a lot more cautious when it comes to where they invest their money.

Final Thoughts

The main difference between coins and tokens is in their structure, where coins are separate currencies with a separate blockchain, while tokens are cryptocurrencies that operate on top of an already-made blockchain.
When it comes to the number of coins and the number of tokens, the majority of cryptocurrencies in existence are tokens as they are simply easier to create.

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Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Oct 30 – UK discusses Crypto Regulation, Chinese Mining Company files for $400 mill IPO

The cryptocurrency market had a slow day price-wise. Most prices stayed on the same levels even though the volumes, as well as RSI values, fell. The past 24 hours were uneventful as far as price is concerned as most cryptocurrencies are either in the slight green or slight red. Bitcoin went down 1.72%, and it is now trading at $9,238. Ethereum gained 0.44%, while XRP gained 1.07%.

Bitcoin’s dominance increased over the weekend even as cryptocurrencies rose in price. However, it is on the downturn in the past 48 hours. Its dominance now sits at 67.3%, which represents a 0.4% decrease when compared to its dominance value 24 hours ago.

Cryptocurrencies ended up being divided between being in the green or red in the past 24 hours. The industry’s market capitalization fell slightly when compared to yesterday’s value. It now has a market capitalization of $248.6 billion, which represents a $2.3 billion decrease when compared to the previous day.

What happened in the past 24 hours

There was no major news in the cryptocurrency industry in the past 24 hours that could shake the prices up or down. The volumes, as well as RSI values, are descending. These are just indicators of a healthy consolidation.

The UK lenient approach to crypto regulation might change by Jan 10, 2020. This may be done with the implementation of the “Fifth Money Laundering Directive.” Eric Benz, CEO of Changelly, said that the UK’s regulatory framework is just trying to keep up with the cryptocurrency market, which is growing. He said:

“I do think regulation is a good thing but only if done in a way, which suits this new market. Applying traditional archaic regulation to crypto simply will not work as it’s been designed in its nature to avoid regulation. There has to be a much better understanding of the market and technology on behalf of Governments not just in the U.K. but globally.”

Chinese cryptocurrency mining company Canaan Creative filed for an IPO on Oct 28. Canaan intends to be the first publicly-traded crypto-mining company. Canaan Creative filed for an IPO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise $400 million by selling its shares on the Nasdaq under the ticker CAN.

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Technical analysis

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Bitcoin

There were no significant changes in Bitcoin’s price in the past 24 hours. Ever since Oct 26, which is right after Bitcoin surged up to $10,430, the price was steady and in the consolidation state. Its price is currently hovering around the $9,220 mark, which is a bit lower than the $9,450 that it was trading at yesterday.


Bitcoin’s RSI levels are now falling under the RSI overbought territory and entering the regular trading territory. This indicates that the pressure that the buyers had is slowly dying out. On top of that, its volume is descending slowly. However, it is still above the levels it was at before the big spike.


Ethereum

Ethereum is doing pretty much the same thing Bitcoin does. After the big price surge, a consolidation needed to happen to make this move healthy. Ethereum is now hovering between its immediate support and resistance levels of $$185 and $193.5. Ethereum has attempted to break this range both to the upside and the downside in the past 24 hours but failed both times. It is currently trading at $186.7, which is almost exactly the price it was trading at 24 hours ago.


Ethereum’s RSI is falling below the overbought territory, and it is now valued at 53. Ethereum’s volume stopped dropping as it returned to the state it was in before the price spike.


XRP

XRP is, as stated in yesterday’s article, performing its consolidation a bit differently from Bitcoin and Ethereum. It is not trading in a specific range, but following its ascending trend line. Even though the volume seems to stay at the same levels, XRP is finding the strength to move upwards and follow the ever-rising resistance line. Just following this line indicates major strength to the upside. However, the trend of price hovering just below the line will have to stop soon as the aforementioned line is too steep.


XRP’s RSI is dropping from the overbought levels into regular trading levels. It’s currently sitting at the value of 53.

 

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Crypto Daily Topic

Is Ripple a Cryptocurrency?

Ripple has long generated a lot of debate as to whether it’s even a cryptocurrency after all. Crypto enthusiasts and experts have always been at loggerheads on whether Ripple meets the tenets of a “real” cryptocurrency. One of these people is Anatoly Castella, CEO of Elpis Investments, who has gone on record to say Ripple’s XRP is “neither a digital fiat nor a real cryptocurrency,” and that it does not fall under the “purest interpretation of cryptocurrency.”

A crypto exchange – Coinmotion, even warned users about XRP not being a real cryptocurrency. “What one needs to know about XRP is that it is not a cryptocurrency in the strict meaning of the word…What differentiates XRP from other cryptocurrencies is that it is not based on blockchain, it is not mined and it is heavily centralized.”

The 2000+ cryptocurrencies out there all derive inspiration from Bitcoin, the world’s first Bitcoin. Some of these cryptocurrencies strive to remain “true” to what exemplifies Bitcoin, e.g., running on a decentralized blockchain ledger, using cryptography to secure the network, transactions being carried out via mining, a finite supply of coins, etc.  But should a cryptocurrency take after each of bitcoin’s traits to be labeled as such? 

Let’s begin by understanding Ripple

Ripple was released in 2012 as a payment settlement, currency exchange, and money transfer network. Ripple’s goal was to circumvent the lengthy waiting processes and expenses involved in the traditional banking model.

XRP is the native currency for the Ripple platform. The company has issued 100 billion XRP tokens, which the company promises to be the maximum number to ever be in existence, although some in the crypto community think Ripple may not adhere to this vow in the future. The XRP token is meant to be the bridge between currencies. It treats all currencies the same way –from fiat currency to gold to even airline miles, which makes it easier to exchange any currency for another.

As a cryptocurrency, Ripple has only recently achieved “mainstream” popularity. Traders and investors have long kept it at arm’s length, mostly due to its traditional makeup that reconciles crypto with fiat currency. For this reason, among others, some in cryptoverse have refused to recognize it as a real cryptocurrency. The question is, are they right? Let’s review some aspects of XRP that will help us answer this question.

XRP is More Premium on Blockchain

XRP was not designed to be a coin, at least in the sense of Bitcoin, Litecoin, etc. While Bitcoin, for instance, accords the cryptocurrency and the network both equal importance in security, speed, availability to all, and applicability, Ripple does not place too much weight on XRP as an investment-worthy security. Instead, it focusses on making the blockchain as robust and scalable as possible. This enables Ripple to enable seamless processes with its client organizations, e.g., the American Express and Santander Bank.

Ripple doesn’t support mining

Unlike Bitcoin and other comparable cryptocurrencies, there is no mining or miners with Ripple. Most other cryptocurrencies utilize different mechanisms which accord varying levels of power to the miners. Proof-of-Work, Proof-of-Capacity, Proof-of-Stake are just some of the many consensus mechanisms used by cryptos to power transactions. However, Ripple transactions are powered via a “centralized” blockchain. The idea behind the centralized network is to make it more reliable and quick.

Again, with most cryptocurrencies, miners are motivated to conduct network transactions by being rewarded with the currency of the network. For Ripple, however, this is unsustainable. In a service built for the benefit of the banking establishment, it makes no sense to have a separate group with different incentives for running/maintaining the network. 

The idea of mining and making the network open for any interested miners is to aid other cryptocurrencies to remain decentralized – with no central authority making the rules. While this has helped them stay true to the “spirit” of censorship-resistance, freedom from interference by corporates and governments, it also slows them down. This is something Ripple cannot afford. The no-mining aspect bleeds into other Ripple features as well, taking it further apart the standard.

Can XRP Be Minted on Demand?

In the majority of cryptos, miners are rewarded with cryptocurrency. This pretty much sums up how new crypto coins are released: by mining. Ripple has created 100 billion XRP already in circulation, which makes it nonvolatile for its clients.

This has led to some people in the crypto community to conclude the currency can be minted anytime – which is against the deflationary nature of cryptocurrencies. But this has been refuted by David Schwartz – one of the original architects of XRP ledger. In a Twitter post in November 2017, Schwartz stressed: “There was never any way to create additional XRP.”

He noted that the original code was prone to a malicious act that would conceivably allow someone to “violate system invariants” and add more XRP. But, they’ve since added an “invariant checker” that seals this loophole.

In other words, there is currently no functionality of adding XRP in the code. If, for any reason, new XRP needed to be printed, it would require a major amendment to the code and adoption into the whole network of validators.

Centralized Blockchain?

Users have access to a Ripple wallet, but accessing the Ripple network is another matter altogether. In the case of Bitcoin, the blockchain network is controlled by Bitcoin users all over the world. By contrast, the Ripple blockchain is not open for all, because that would create risk for the otherwise sensitive environment.

And while XRP uses cryptography to protect participants, in essence, it’s protecting “trusted” parties registered on the network. This way, the cryptocurrency has the benefits of a blockchain ledger, but in a safer and walled ecosystem that lends it more efficiency and control. We could say Bitcoin is maintained by participants who have an incentive to continue doing so, but still, they could decide to shut off their computers and walk away. This event would put Bitcoin in a sort of a precarious position, something which Ripple has avoided.

Conclusion

Ripple is not a “real” cryptocurrency, at least by the standard definition. It is more of a solution than an asset. While other cryptos may fit in the asset mold – complete with the deflationary qualities of mining and volatility, which makes them attractive to investors – Ripple offers a platform that may, technically, be a “cryptocurrency,” but one which cannot be regarded as such by crypto hardliners.

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Crypto Guides

Understanding The Basics Of Bitcoin Cash

Introduction 

As the name suggests, one can easily conclude that Bitcoin Cash is forked from the original Bitcoin protocol. It is also called as Bcash and is created in 2017. A Mining pool known as ‘ViaBTC’ proposed the name Bitcoin Cash for this cryptocurrency. In 2018, Bcash was further split into Bitcoin Cash ABC and Bitcoin SV (Satoshi Vision). This coin is traded in the cryptocurrency exchanges with BCH as the symbol.

Objective

The central vision of Satoshi Nakamoto to invent cryptocurrency is to enable the usage of the cryptos in day to day transactions. That, too, without any central authority having control over the same. As Bitcoin gained traction, the transaction fees, and the validation of the transaction started taking longer than usual. This unusual time to validate the transaction didn’t make it suitable for the day to day transactions. Hence the industry experts, after much deliberation, decided to fork the original Bitcoin protocol and create a new coin.

How is the BCH different from Bitcoin?

The block time, i.e., the time take for the generation of each block by validating the transactions, is 10 minutes, which is typically the same as Bitcoin protocol. But the block size, i.e., the number of transactions that a block can hold is around 1 MB for the Bitcoin network at the time in 2017 (when the network was forked to create BCH), but the block size of a block in BCH is designed to be 8 MB to 32 MB. The number of transactions that the BCH protocol can hold during a test in September 2018 surged to more than 25,000 transactions per second, giving fierce competition to traditional operations performed by VISA and Mastercard per second. Bitcoin Cash also doesn’t incorporate Segregated Witness (SegWit), a protocol in which the Bitcoin network used to increase the number of transactions per block. (Segregated Witness is an implementation in the system to remove metadata of the block to increase the block size)

Consensus

BCH also uses a POW consensus algorithm, just like Bitcoin protocol. Both Bitcoin and BCH are capped at 21 million coins. The complexity of the challenge proposed by the network changes for every 2016 blocks as they both use an algorithm with similar complexity for mining the coins.

Market Capitalization

Bitcoin Cash stands at the fifth place in terms of market cap with $3.8 Billion in value while the price of each coin being $210.51 (as on 23/10/2019). The 24-hour trading volume is $1.6 Billion, with a supply of ~18 Million BCH coins in the market.

Price History

In August 2017, the coin started trading for the first time at $294.60. By January 1st, 2018, it was trading at $2534.82, which is around 760% increase compared with the initial inception. The surge in pricing is due to the crypto boom between November and December 2017. By January 16th, it saw a decline of 26% and traded at $1,772. From then on, this coin had a continuous decrease till November 2018, when the currency split into two medals.

BCH had a tremendous growth as the block size started at 8 MB and reached 32 MB at present as per the plan during its inception. This makes this crypto, a viable currency for day to day transactions.

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Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Oct 29 – Cryptocurrencies surging, China’s President Optimistic on Blockchain

The cryptocurrency market has had an astonishing weekend, which brought many cryptocurrencies great gains. Yesterday was a continuation of the buying move that started over the weekend. Many cryptocurrencies gained over 5%. In order to make the moves healthy, the cryptocurrency market required a consolidation, which it is getting now. As for the past 24 hours, Bitcoin went down 2.59%, and it is now trading at $9,403. Ethereum gained 0.41%, while XRP lost 1.34%.

 

Bitcoin’s dominance increased over the weekend even as cryptocurrencies rose in price, but fell back down a bit in the past 2 hours. Its dominance now sits at 67.7%, which represents a 0.5% decrease when compared to its dominance value 24 hours ago.

Cryptocurrencies ended up being divided between being in the green or red in the past 24 hours. The industry now has a market capitalization of $250.9 billion.

What happened in the past 24 hours

There was no major news in the cryptocurrency industry in the past 24 hours. The elevated volume and continuous buying pressure seemingly come from China after their president told his citizens to seize the opportunity that is blockchain and crypto industry.

As reported by many news outlets, the Chinese took the words of their president very literally and started investing in cryptocurrency almost immediately.


Technical analysis


Bitcoin

There were no significant changes in Bitcoin’s price when compared to the state, it was 24 hours ago. After bouncing from the $7,410 support line, Bitcoin surged up to $10,430. To keep the gains and to consider this move healthy, Bitcoin needed to retrace. That is exactly what it is doing at the moment. The price is currently hovering around the $9,450 mark.


Bitcoin is currently trading right below the RSI overbought territory, with its volume elevated, but descending.


Ethereum

Ethereum is doing pretty much the same thing Bitcoin does. After the big price surge, a consolidation needed to happen to make this move healthy. Ethereum is currently trading at $186.5. After leaving its falling wedge pattern, Ethereum’s outlook is much more positive. However, its other indicators show a possible downward-facing move in the near future.


Ethereum’s RSI is also right below the RSI overbought territory with trading volume elevated, but descending.


 

 

XRP

XRP is performing its consolidation a bit differently from Bitcoin and Ethereum. Even though it is trading within a range just like the other two cryptocurrencies, XRP does not experience significant volume drops. On top of that, its RSI is dropping from the overbought levels into regular trading levels.



When it comes to the position of XRP’s price, XRP is hovering just below the upward-facing trend line, which it does not intend to cross. Just following the line below, it would indicate major strength to the upside for XRP.

It has become a regular occurrence that Bitcoin and Ethereum almost mirror each other while XRP makes its own moves in the industry.

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Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Oct 28 – Cryptocurrencies surging, China’s president optimistic on blockchain technology

The cryptocurrency market has had an astonishing weekend. The past couple of days have brought us one of the largest price surges in a single 24-hour candle. The last time we saw a 40%+ 24-hour candle from Bitcoin, it was trading at $0.40 and $5.65. This could indicate an influx of buyers that are here to stay. Precisely this happened, as most cryptocurrencies’ price did not retrace, but instead stayed at their highs. As for the past 24 hours, Bitcoin went up 5.86%, and it is now trading at $9,698. Ethereum gained 4.59% of its value, while XRP gained 3.56%.

Bitcoin’s dominance increased over the weekend even as cryptocurrencies rose in price. This is because Bitcoin’s price itself gained more than the other cryptos did. Its dominance now sits at 68.2%, which represents a 2.1% increase from the beginning of the weekend.

Most cryptocurrencies ended up being in the green in the past 24 hours, which reflected on the market cap of the cryptocurrency industry as a whole. The industry now has a market capitalization of $256.69 billion.

What happened in the past 24 hours

There was no significant news regarding cryptocurrencies in the past 24 hours. The price was keeping up its upward momentum from the news that came earlier during the weekend.

As far as the weekend goes, the big news was the Chinese president Xi says that China should “Seize Opportunity” to adopt blockchain. On top of that, China passed a cryptography law which will be effective on January 1, 2020. This law will try to tackle regulatory and legal challenges in commercial cryptography use-cases.

Technical analysis

Bitcoin

The past week was not especially good for Bitcoin until the weekend came. After failing to spike up from the bull flag that it formed, Bitcoin started dropping in value, managing to fall from $7,950 down to $7,300 in less than 30 minutes. The support line at $7,410 was quite a strong one, and Bitcoin manage to consolidate at that price point. However, the volume suddenly spiked up, and Bitcoin’s price skyrocketed all the way to $10,360 before retracing a bit. Bitcoin is now trading around the $9,700 mark.


Bitcoin’s volume is still quite high, while its RSI is indicating trading in overbought territory.

Ethereum

Ethereum has also had a great weekend, as its price skyrocketed as well. After reaching the big support area at $153, it went up and eventually gained upward momentum. Ethereum’s price reached $199.6 before retracing. One important thing to note is that Ethereum’s price did try to fall below the falling wedge line. However, it quickly declined, and the price shot up once again.


Ethereum is now trading at $186.6 with elevated levels of volume. Its RSI is approaching overbought territory but is not there yet.

XRP

XRP has also gained quite a bit over the weekend. After breaking its upward-facing trend at $0.29, it crashed down to $0.25. However, the price recovered as the bulls kicked in, establishing support at $0.266. This was a baseline for the big move upwards, which ended at $0.315. As the volume faded, XRP retraced a bit and fell under the aforementioned trend line, which it did manage to cross during the spike. It has tried to break it quite a few times since but failed every single time.


Even so, there is no need for attempts to break above the trend line to be successful as the line is too steep upwards. Even following it is a great indicator of strength. XRP is now trading for $0.30.

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Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Oct 25 – Today’s market neutral, Peter Schiff warming up on crypto

The cryptocurrency market has been relatively neutral in the past 24 hours. After a pretty horrible drop that ended with some cryptocurrencies dropping double digits in price, the market is in a stabilization phase. While some cryptocurrencies gained a bit of value, most remained at their yesterday’s levels. As for the top3 cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin went up 0.24%, while Ethereum gained 0.2% of its value. XRP was the biggest gainer out of the three and gained 2.45%.

Bitcoin has lost a fraction of its dominance due to it not moving much while some other cryptocurrencies managed to secure gains in the past 24 hours. It now sits at 65.6 %, which represents a 0.04% decrease when compared to the previous day.

The industry has gained some value as far as market capitalization goes in the past 24 hours. Cryptocurrencies now have a market capitalization of $205.66 billion, which represents a $1.5 billion increase from the previous day.

What happened in the past 24 hours?

The markets have been pretty stable in the past 24 hours as there were no moves from neither bears nor bulls. There were also no significant news that could impact the price of the overall crypto market.

XRP has managed to gain some value on positive news, however. CryptoBull tweeted that he remains bullish on XRP and that his price goal would be $10 by the end of 2020. On top of that, Tim Draper also announced that he expects XRP to explode soon.

Cryptocurrencies are gaining momentum in adoption, and we can see the future changing right before our eyes. Peter Schiff, an economist that is considered anti-crypto and a goldbug, announced that “Privately issued cryptocurrencies, backed by real assets, would represent a major improvement over our current system of national fiat currencies.”

Technical analysis

Bitcoin

Bitcoin was pretty stagnant in the past 24 hours. After finding resistance at $7,410, Bitcoin could not move far above the price point. However, this support line stopped a big bear move from that could cause much more harm to Bitcoin’s price.


Bitcoin’s RSI is slowly moving out of the oversold territory while the volume is on the decrease. This condition has historically shown that a move (bullish or bearish) is near.

Ethereum

Ethereum has had a slightly better day than Bitcoin in terms of price. Even though its price gain is far from big, Ethereum did manage to pull away somewhat from its support zone.


It is now sitting at $161.5, with the same indicator positions as Bitcoin (RSI and volume)

XRP

XRP has gained the most in the past 24 hours. This fact could be attributed to a large bull rally when the price broke $0.266. Even though the price managed to slip below the line, bulls rallied and propelled it upwards.


XRP is now trading at around $0.278 and looks pretty bullish in the short-term.

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Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Oct 24 –Crypto market bleeding out, Zuckerberg announces Libra’s strategy

The cryptocurrency market has been bleeding out in the past 24 hours. After a pretty average performance throughout the day, cryptocurrencies dropped in price in a blink of an eye. Most of them lost 5%-8% of their value in a matter of minutes. The move happened extremely fast and with an amazing bear force. It seems like more bearish funds entering the market after cryptocurrencies have consolidated. The market is fighting for dear life as many people have given up on thoughts that this is a retracement in the bull trend, but rather an extension of a bear market that dates back from January 2018. As for the top3 cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin went down 6.84%, while Ethereum lost 4.09% of its value and XRP lost 6.2%.

Unlike with most bear moves, Bitcoin’s dominance decreased this time.  It now sits at 66 %, which represents a 0.05% decrease when compared to the previous day.

As almost every single cryptocurrency was in the red, the market lost a significant portion of its value. The industry now has a market capitalization of $204.28 billion, which represents an enormous $13.1 billion decrease from the previous day.

What happened in the past 24 hours?

Big influx of selling pressure caused the cryptocurrency market to lose over $13 billion of its market capitalization in a matter of minutes. There was no specific news that caused this. In fact, there was no news at all that was regarded as completely bearish in the past 24 hours. However, after the price drop happened, people started resurrecting the thought that the markets have not been in a bull market at all after the big crash of Jan 2018. In fact, many people believe that the price rise to $13,000-$14,000 was just a bear market retracing and then falling back again.

Besides the price drop, the cryptocurrency industry spent the day talking about Mark Zuckerberg’s appearance before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services. He was in front of the Committee as the sole witness that was invited to testify about his role in developing Libra, Facebook’s cryptocurrency that is backed by a basket of stable international assets.

Technical analysis

Bitcoin

Bitcoin has had an incredibly bad day, which is what we can say about many cryptocurrencies in if we take a look at their performance in the past 24 hours. After failing to spike up from the bull flag that it formed, Bitcoin started dropping in value slowly. However, today’s selling pressure spike caused its price to plummet. Bitcoin fell from $7,950 all the way down to $7,450 in less than 30 minutes. After hitting a support line sitting at $7,410 Bitcoin started consolidating. This support line dates back from Nov 2017 and most recently May-Jun 2019.


So far, the support seems strong and the downward-facing move seems to have ended. This is further confirmed by RSI which is now heavily oversold.

Ethereum

Ethereum has also had a red day, but a better one than Bitcoin price-wise. Its price is currently $160 as the support held on during the time of crisis. The $153 support area is quite a strong one and should hold any slight fluctuations or bearish attempts.


Ethereum’s RSI is approaching oversold territory, indicating the end of the bearish move.

XRP

XRP was certainly not excluded from the influx of sellers coming into the market. After it’s ranging ascending price trend got broken yesterday, the price started falling sharply. The price fell quickly and even reached $0.25 levels. However, the bulls kicked in and established support at $0.266 which is considered a strong long-lasting support price point for XRP.


The price is now consolidating right above the support while RSI is just fluctuating above oversold territory.

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Crypto Videos

The Best Way To Send & Receive Altcoins Through Multi-currency Wallets

How to send and receive altcoins through multicurrency wallets?

In order to send or receive a cryptocurrency, first, you need a cryptocurrency wallet that supports that cryptocurrency. Many wallets that support quite a few cryptocurrencies are currently on the market. The decision of which wallet to use comes down mostly to which cryptocurrencies the wallet supports. If more wallets support the wanted cryptocurrency, then the decision comes down to smaller features such as user interface, the option to reduce/increase transaction cost etc.

Sending and Receiving Cryptocurrencies

After deciding which wallet to use, all that’s needed is to put in the public address recipient when sending cryptocurrencies or to send out the address to the sender as a recipient. This can often be as easy as scanning a QR code and typing in the cryptocurrency amount.
Of course, the process of sending and receiving cryptocurrencies can differ slightly between wallets as each wallet has a different interface. However, there are a few general guidelines that are the same with all wallets:

Log into your wallet – Some wallets may have a 2FA (two-factor authentication), PIN code, phone verification or other kinds of security options enabled;
Go to the send/receive screen depending on whether you are sending or receiving cryptocurrency (that’s simply done by clicking the tab or button that says “send” or “receive”);
Choose whether you want to send or receive cryptocurrency. It is important to know that even though wallets can support many cryptocurrencies, each address is bound to one cryptocurrency (unless the coins are Ethereum tokens or a part of a similar ecosystem). This means that Bitcoin can only be sent to a Bitcoin address, Litecoin to Litecoin, XRP to XRP etc.
When sending: Enter the public wallet address (of the corresponding cryptocurrency) of the recipient and choose the amount that you want to send them. The specified amount should also include transaction fees. After double-checking and confirming that the address is correct (as a mistake cannot be undone after sending), click send and the transaction is done.
When receiving: Receiving cryptocurrencies is as simple as sharing the public wallet address (for the coin that will be sent) with the sender. It is even easier in person, as the sender can scan the QR code right from the recipient’s wallet.
Cryptocurrency transaction tips and tricks
Before sending a lot of cryptocurrencies, it’s good to try sending a small amount to the address as a test to make sure everything is working properly.

Sending and receiving cryptocurrency on/from exchanges might be a bit different than how simple wallets work. Sending between exchanges will require using the “withdraw” and “deposit” buttons on the exchange which will be located right next to the token. Each exchange has its own protocol which has to be followed. This means that directions must be followed carefully, as exchanges might require senders to include a message in the transaction or to send a whole number of the coin/token. They will also most likely require some form of transaction verification (2FA, email verification or phone verification).

Crypto-to-crypto exchange lets its users turn one cryptocurrency into another. Using a platform such as Shapeshift could be helpful if the transaction should happen in altcoins but all you currently have is Bitcoin.
You should not be afraid if the transaction does not appear on the recipient side instantly. Sending cryptocurrency may take some time for the transaction to go through (especially if the sender is sending from an exchange wallet, in which case it may take some time for the transaction to be included in a “transaction batch”). The sent transactions can be almost instant, but they could also take a few minutes or even hours (depending on the traffic). Most wallets, however, have the feature where users can see their pending transactions.

ERC20 tokens

ERC20 tokens are cryptocurrencies made on the Ethereum protocol and they are a bit different than other altcoins. These tokens are compatible with the Ethereum protocol as they follow the ERC20 guidelines. To send any ERC20 token to another wallet, the sender has to hold enough Ether to cover the transaction fees. Transaction fee depends on the complexity of the transaction. This fee is called Gas.
Other than the fact that each ERC20 wallet needs to have enough Ether to cover transaction fees, there is no other difference from the other altcoins wallets.

Conclusion

One big thing to point out when transacting cryptocurrencies is to never share private keys. Private keys should be differentiated from public keys and should never be seen by anyone other than the account owner. Sharing it would be the equivalent of sharing the wallet password with a stranger.

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Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Oct 23 – Stablecoins may be considered securities, crypto markets in the red today

The cryptocurrency market is in the red for the past 24 hours. Most of the day has passed by without any downside resistance whatsoever. There has not been any new money coming into the markets as volume seems to be a bit lower than average. However, the downward-facing moves were not weak, but rather steady and stable. The market is now trying to find a price level to consolidate. As for the top3 cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin went down 3.03%, while Ethereum lost 4.3% of its value and. XRP was down 3.01% in the past 24 hours. Out of the top50 cryptocurrencies, BAT performed the best with its gains reaching over 7.5%.

 


Bitcoin’s dominance increased a fraction of a percent when compared to yesterday’s value. It now sits at 66.5%, which represents a 0.01% increase from the previous day.

 

Most cryptocurrencies ended up being in the red in the past 24 hours. This, of course, slightly increased the value of the cryptocurrency market as a whole. The industry now has a market capitalization of $217.4 billion, which represents a $5 billion decrease from the previous day.

What happened in the past 24 hours

Cryptocurrencies have had both positive and negative news in the past 24 hours.

As reported by CoinDesk, Morgan Creek Digital managed to raise $60.9 million for its second blockchain venture capital fund. It seems that two pension funds invested $50 million into the project. This is more than double what they initially started with ($21 in the first blockchain fund).

The US Congress may consider a bill which would classify stablecoins as securities. This bill draft was published on Tuesday by Rep. Sylvia Garcia. The bill wants to regulate stablecoins under the Securities Act of 1933, seeking to provide clarity in an area the bill suggests lacks regulatory guidance.

Technical analysis

Bitcoin



Bitcoin has managed to break a bull flag downwards, making quite a bearish announcement to the market. If we take a look at the charts, the downtrend that started on Sep 30 ended up with a bull flag that broke upwards and increased in price right to the 161.8% of the downwards-facing move. After that, another similar downtrend started and we’ve come to the point when a bull flag was starting to rise. Everyone was expecting it to break upwards and Bitcoin to attempt to reach new highs (a 161.8% increase would mean a price of $9,440).

However, Bitcoin managed to fail the pattern and broke it downwards. Its price stabilized at just below $8,000.

Ethereum

Ethereum has lost over 4% of its value in the past 24 hours. It seems to be forming a falling wedge pattern on the daily chart. One more descending move is to be expected before Ethereum could attempt a price increase. However, if that does not happen, even a price of $110 is not excluded.


At the moment, Ethereum is sitting at $167, with a big support line being at $157. Its volume is at extremely low levels and RSI is approaching oversold territory.

XRP

XRP broke its ascending trend range and fell to $0.288. After creating a range that it moved in all the way from Sep 19 until now, XRP managed to break it downwards. It is now trying to recover and get back into the range, but the attempt has been unsuccessful so far.


XRP’s volume is average while its RSI is neither oversold nor overbought. It would take a significant increase in bull power in order for XRP to get back in its lane. If that does not happen, however, XRP has strong support sitting at $0.266.

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Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Oct 22 – Slow day for cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin SV skyrocketing

The cryptocurrency market has been pretty stagnant in the past 24 hours. After a green day (for the most part), cryptocurrencies have consolidated at their respective prices. The past 24 have been pretty stable when it comes to volume. Even though the majority of cryptocurrencies are in the green, there has not been any significant increase in the top-3 cryptocurrencies. However, Bitcoin SV skyrocketed and increased more than 20% in the past 24 hours. Bitcoin went down 0.56%, while Ethereum lost 0.13% of its value. XRP was the biggest gainer out of the top3, with a price rise of 2.25%. Bitcoin SV is the best performing large cryptocurrency in the past 24 hours (with the gain of over 15%) while the rest are pretty stable and have increased or decreased in price by a few percents at maximum.

Bitcoin’s dominance dropped a fraction of a percent when compared to yesterday’s value. It now sits at 66.4%, which represents a 0.02% decrease from the previous day.

Most cryptocurrencies ended up being in the green in the past 24 hours. This, of course, slightly increased the value of the cryptocurrency market as a whole. The industry now has a market capitalization of $222.86 billion, which represents a $0.5 billion increase from the previous day.

What happened in the past 24 hours

The global economy is looking pretty weak at the moment. Several central banks across the world have had to impose rate cuts. While the supply of fiat currencies has been growing in the past couple of years, Bitcoin’s block rewards are decreasing in an event called “halving.” Bitcoin’s new supply will drop even further after halving in 2020. Previous instances of halving resulted in a sharp price increase of both Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies.

Technical analysis

Bitcoin

Yesterday’s spike got Bitcoin all the way up to $8,320. However, that price did not hold up against the falling pressure of buyers and the rising pressure of sellers. Bitcoin is trying to stabilize at either above or below the 38.2% Fib retracement line, which is at $8,200. The volume is average, and the RSI doesn’t show any signs of overbought or oversold trading. Bitcoin is now left in the hands of the bulls and the bears and their momentum.


Ethereum

Ethereum’s volume has been on the rise in the past 24 hours. The bulls seem to have taken over the wheel at the start, bringing ETH up to $179.5. However, as it could not break the $180 mark, Ethereum had to consolidate at a lower price. After bouncing from the 23.6% Fib retracement line, which stands at $173, Ethereum is consolidating between that line and the resistance line, which is sitting at $176.


Even though the overall volume seems to be higher when compared to the previous day, it is on the decline at the moment, which makes an upward-facing move quite unlikely.

XRP

XRP is on the rise in the past 24 hours. After consolidating in a range between $0.29 and $0.295, XRP had a parabolic move upwards. In a matter of minutes, its price rose from 0.292 to 0.303. However, the top of the movement got rejected quickly, and the price is not reversing downwards. XRP’s first point of support is the 23.6% Fib retracement line, which sits at $0.299. With bear volume increasing and RSI reaching the overbought territory, it is almost inevitable for XRP to consolidate below $0.3.


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Crypto Guides

What Is Market Capitalization? Top Cryptocurrencies With Highest Market Cap!

Introduction

Market capitalization is estimated for publicly traded companies in general to determine the value of that company. The value is calculated based on the total number of outstanding shares in the market multiplied by the individual share price. In simple words, the market cap is nothing but the market value of a publicly trading company.

Initial Public Offering (IPO)

Initial Public Offering or IPO’s are widely known. Companys which issue IPOs are publicly trading companies willing to raise capital for investing in the business to diversify and expand the company. When a company issues IPO, it agrees to sell a certain stake of the company to the public to raise the company. There are many successful IPO’s since 1602, when the first-ever IPO was recorded. Global companies like Amazon and Apple crossed one trillion-dollar in market cap, making them powerful than some smaller countries.

Initial Coin Offering (ICO)

Similar to IPOs, we have ICOs called Initial Coin offering with regards to cryptocurrencies. ICOs help crypto companies to raise funds that will be invested in creating a new coin, service, or dApps. These companies generally release a white paper detailing the aim of the ICO, minimum capital they intend to raise, and the basic design and properties of the product they are trying to create. Many investors plan to invest in ICOs to make quick bucks and earn tremendous profits. The result of some of the prominent ICOs promises the same.

Hence, the market cap of a cryptocurrency is determined by the number of outstanding coins in the market multiplied by the individual value of a coin.

Now, let’s look at the top 10 cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization.

  1. Bitcoin (Market Cap – $146.1 BN)

Bitcoin is the first-ever cryptocurrency, and it is obvious that this crypto tops the list in terms of market cap. The market cap of Bitcoin is $146,141,293,771, with the total number of coins in circulation being almost 18 million. As we all know, only 21 million Bitcoins can ever be mined.

  1. Ethereum (Market Cap – $19.1 BN)

Ethereum rightly earned its second place as it was developed to overcome the limitations of bitcoin, and it has become the second favorite amongst the investors. The market cap of Ethereum is around $19,191,075,792 with 108,182,195 coins in circulation.

  1. Ripple (Market Cap – $12.8 BN)

Ripples XRP takes third place with $12,833,995,058 as a market cap. The total number of coins in circulation is around 43,166,787,298. This crypto earned its credibility by gaining support from some of the most powerful centralized institutions like Federal Reserva.

  1. Tether (Market Cap – $4.1 BN)

Tether has been developed to be a stable coin, i.e., the price will always be maintained as one dollar. This coin has been developed to have the stability of fiat currency while having the key properties of cryptocurrency. The market cap of Tether is $4,121,497,986, with 4,108,044,456 coins being circulated in the market.

  1. Bitcoin Cash (Market Cap – $3.9 BN)

Bitcoin cash is created by forking the main Bitcoin platform. The market cap is around $3,956,035,700 with 18,061,950 number of coins in the market.

  1. Litecoin (Market Cap – $3.4 BN)

Litecoin is a spinoff of Bitcoin, thus earning the name of altcoin, which means alternate coin (to bitcoin). Around 63,484,804 Litecoins are currently circulating in the market.

Some of the other cryptos with high market cap include

Binance Coin (Market Cap – $2.8 BN)

EOS (Market Cap – $2.7 BN)

Bitcoin SV (Market Cap – $1.5 BN)

Stellar (Market Cap – $1.3 BN)

All the above information is as of 16th October 2019. For real-time figures, you can visit this website.

The adoption and usage of cryptocurrencies will only increase in the future as they are here to stay. At the peak of the bitcoin price in December 2017, the market cap of all the cryptocurrencies was around 125 billion dollars, and as of today, it is 221.3 billion dollars. Given the history, the market cap of all the cryptocurrencies can quickly reach a trillion dollars in the near future.

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Cryptocurrencies

EOS Coin Review

EOS is the native cryptocurrency for the EOS.IO blockchain protocol. It is a relatively new player, having launched in 2017 but went to raise a record-breaking $4 billion in its June 2018 ICO. According to the system developers – Block.one – EOSIO seeks to solve the Bitcoin and Ethereum’s inherent problems. These include creating an open and free platform for the development of faster, more secure, and simpler decentralized applications.

The blockchain development startup claims to have been the first to infuse the WebAssembly engine into a blockchain software. The Block.one initiative has even resorted to creating their own blockchain from the ground up dubbed the EOSIO 2 that the company claims to be 16x faster than their original EOSIO version.

But how true are these claims? How viable is the EOSIO project and its EOS cryptocoin? Is it safe for the global web-products development to rely on the blockchain and host their different service son the platform? We look at all these and more in this EOS review.

How does EOS work?

EOS was first created as an Ethereum app on the ERC20 project, migrated to the EOS.IO upon the launch of the EOS Mainnet. The coin and its blockchain platform have, over time, earned the nickname “Ethereum on Steroids” given their speed and efficiency. Developing different applications on this platform, for instance, is free.

And while Ethereum blockchain supports no more than 30 transactional transfers per second, EOS is specially designed to supports millions of such transactions. More importantly, DApps developers don’t need specialized skills. You don’t need to learn a new programming language to start developing apps on this platform as it supports all popular languages that developers “know and love” like C++.

How can you acquire EOS coins?

There are two primary ways in which a crypto trader or investor can lay claim to EOS tokens. One is by way of mining the coins, and the most popular yet is through active trade on different crypto exchanges.

EOS, however, maintains a different coin mining strategy. Unlike most blockchain networks like Bitcoin that use the proof-of-stake consensus protocol that’s open to all, EOS uses the Delegate-proof-of-stake protocol. This implies that there are only 21 block producers that can validate an EOS transaction, and they are elected by the EOS coin-holders. And the higher the number of EOS coins you own, the higher the chance of being elected as a block producer.

The rest of the online crypto trading community can acquire by buying EOS tokens from different exchanges. Several leading and second-tier crypto exchange companies have embraced the coin and provided a platform where it can be openly exchanged for crypto or fiat currencies. Some of the leading markets where you can trade EOS coins include Binance, KuKoin, Huobi, Biftinex, and Kraken.

How safe is EOS?

We aren’t aware of any security or safety concerns with regards to the EOS coins or its anchor blockchain technology. And though the brand has only been around for about two years, it has made significant inroads towards a secure blockchain environment. They haven’t just moved from the Ethereum network to their own Mainnet but have also come up with several security measures. Key among them is the incorporation of WebAuthn Support for secure transaction signing without the need for additional software.

What did we like about the crypto coin?

Speedy transaction processing: EOS was created to solve such problems as speedy transactions – inherent to leading blockchains like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. According to Block.one, the EOS blockchain is infused with several systems and protocols aimed at accelerating the transaction speeds on the platform. While Ethereum will only process 30 transfers per second against Ripple’s – considered the fastest blockchain – 1,500, EOS claims to process millions of transactions, making it the fastest blockchain technology.

Supports the most common programming languages: we are also drawn to the fact that EOS has positioned itself as all-welcoming. Through the creation of the most versatile DApps development platform, it has made it possible for every developer to create an app on the platform using virtually any programming language.

Free of charge for developers: On most blockchain platforms, developers have to pay to host and develop apps on the platform. EOS is, however, different as it is one of the first free blockchain development platforms. Here, developers can access the EOSIO platform and develop different apps using the language of their choice free of charge.

What needs improvement?

Controversial voting process: EOSIO maintains 21 positions for block producers. These producers, according to the company, are voted for by any EOS crypto holder. We, however, find this voting process quite complicated and not as transparent as Block.one may want EOS crypto coin holders to believe.

Exposure to market risk during the three days of staking during a vote: The voting process for the EOS block producers is said to be free and open for all EOS-coin holders. What the blockchain technology company doesn’t overemphasize is the fact that to participate in the vote, you must stake your coins for three days. During this time, the staked coins are locked in and cannot be sold. We feel that such a move, however, exposes these coin-holders to massive risk should the coins lose value during the lock-up period.

No maximum EOS coin supply: Digital currencies were supposed to address some of the inherent limitations of the fiat currencies. The most prominent one being inflations. This explains why most crypto coins have put limits on the number of their tokens in circulation. We, therefore, feel that by having a limitless number of coins, EOS doesn’t address this problem.

Bottom line

EOS coins and their native Blockchain platform EOSIO are revolutionizing the aspect of security and speed when it comes to blockchain transactions. They are also redefining the openness of the blockchain technology by making it possible for virtually everyone to create a decentralized app on their platform using their preferred language. We are, however, more interested in the speed of their transactions. Moving forward, we will continue monitoring the company to see how they address the voting process concerns and the issue of locking up EOS assets for days.

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Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Oct 18 – XRP taking over, green day for the crypto market

After a pretty grim-looking situation in the past couple of days, the cryptocurrency markets are seemingly stabilizing. The past 24 hours have shown us mostly buying pressure, which can be seen in the cryptocurrency market overview. Most of the top cryptocurrencies are green, with XRP leading the path. The volume seems to have decreased a bit, which could indicate that strong bears took a break.  Almost every single cryptocurrency ended up in the green today. Bitcoin went up 1.65%, while Ethereum gained 1.71% of its value. XRP was the biggest gainer out of the top3, with a price rise of 6.07%. Once again, XRP showed to be the most resistant cryptocurrency of this week.

Bitcoin’s dominance has decreased slightly when compared to the previous day. It now sits at 66.1%, which represents a 0.03% decrease from yesterday.

Most cryptocurrencies ended up being in the green in the past 24 hours, which reflected on the market cap of the cryptocurrency industry as a whole. The industry now has a market capitalization of $221 billion, representing an increase of a little over $3 billion.

What happened in the past 24 hours

As the selling pressure and volume altogether decreased when compared to the past couple of red days, we can conclude that the bears have taken a break, at least for a day. Many people see this as the beginning of a bear market, but we have yet to see what is coming for the crypto industry. Most cryptocurrencies bounced off their immediate support lines and managed to stabilize or even attempt to form new daily highs above the resistance lines. Only a handful of cryptocurrencies managed actually break them, but this could be considered a good sign for the bulls.

Technical analysis

Bitcoin

Bitcoin reached a low of $7,900 yesterday after a series of downward-facing spikes and strong bear presence. However, this support line was not broken, and Bitcoin managed to bounce up over $8,000. Its overall volume has decreased (as shown on the chart), which could represent bears backing off. However, the lack of volume also stopped Bitcoin from crossing over the $8,130 resistance line. After two attempts, Bitcoin is still making a move and trying to go above it, but the decrease in volume does not seem helpful.


Bitcoin’s RSI is also approaching overbought territory, which means that there is a high probability of this attempt of breaking resistance to be rejected as well.

Ethereum

Ethereum managed to distance itself from Bitcoin a bit in the past 24 hours. Even though they shared a similar fate, Ethereum’s moves were not a mirror of Bitcoin. After the low of $172.5, Ethereum’s bulls picked up the pace and started pushing the price up. Ethereum breezed through the $176 resistance line, which now turned into a support line. Even so, the low volume kept it from pushing further up. The upward-facing move was strong, but not strong enough. Ethereum managed to push through $178.8 and reached for $180.7 resistance line, but got rejected. This pushed the price back into a zone around the $176 support line, which holds for the moment.


Ethereum’s RSI is somewhere above the middle of the range, while its volume is constantly low.

Ripple (XRP)

Against all the odds, XRP has managed to rise during the hard times that the cryptocurrency market is in at the moment. After a fairly stable day, XRP brought in some new capital, which pushed it from $0.28 all the way up to $0.305. This move happened extremely quickly, as the majority of is move actually happened in one 30-minute candle. Besides the huge 30-minute spike in price and volume, XRP’s volume got higher when compared to the past day.


XRP is now struggling to keep its gains, and time will tell whether it will stay above the $0.3 or fall below the line.

 

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Crypto Daily Topic

The Eighteenth Million Bitcoins Will have Be Mined by the of This Week

This week marks a milestone in the life of the world’s first cryptocurrency – Bitcoin. Blockchain.com, the cryptocurrency monitoring platform, reported that the total Bitcoins in circulation had reached 17.72 million by October 14, 2019. It will take the days before next week to mine the remaining amount to 18 million.

It has taken Bitcoin slightly over ten years to expend 85.7 of its total supply, which is quite the metaphorical “drop in the ocean” when compared to the 120 more years it will take for the total number of coins to be mined.

120 Years?

For many people in the crypto community, this seeming discrepancy might prove confusing. How can it take ten years to mine 18 million coins and 120 years to mine the remaining 3 million? The answer is in the network creator’s genius model, which is built to make the currency appreciate as the years go by, rather than devalue.

Now, the number of Bitcoins is finite. There can only be 21 million coins in supply, and when one day all coins are mined, no new ones will be introduced.

Miners get block rewards (free coins) every time they mine new coins. As time goes on, the block rewards are halved – for every 210,000 blocks mined.

When Bitcoin was new, miners could receive 50 coins for every block. The first halving was in 2012, bringing the rewards to 25 coins. The next halving happened in 2016, cutting the rewards to 12.5. The next one will occur on May 2020, making the reward 6.25 coins.

If the Bitcoin protocol remains intact and the halving process remains consistent, Bitcoin will reach the maximum supply cap in 2140.

Bitcoin Investors Are “HODLing” More Than Ever

Meanwhile, the number of addresses hodling 1000+ Bitcoins has increased, as people stockpile on the currency. 

On-chain analyst Glassnode (on-chain refers to transactions that occur on the Blockchain and are only valid when it’s modified to reflect them) has highlighted that the number of Bitcoin wallets holding more than 1000 BTC is now 2100 separate wallets. More wallets are holding bitcoins in the 1,000 – 10,000 bracket more than in any other bracket.

Similarly, the number of bitcoins in wallets with 1000+ wallets has gone from strength to strength: from 6, 919, 950 in September 2018 to 7, 184, 501 in January this year, to 7, 530, 446 as of October 14, 2019. 

These numbers indicate that as we approach the next “halvening,” people are buying Bitcoins in larger volumes, as further indicated by the recent increase in hash-rate discussed in more detail below. 

Bitcoin’s Hash Rate Is at an All-Time High

The hash rate for Bitcoin is also at an all-time high of 110.19 EH/s after being on a steady increase for the last two years – according to the cryptocurrency analysis website Bitinfocharts.com. Hash rate is essentially the rate at which a crypto-miner is working. The faster they are working, the higher the hash rate, and the quicker they can solve the next block and claim their reward.  

Just in July this year, the hash rate was 80 EH/s and has since grown by 37% in that short amount of time. In September, it hit 100 EH/s for the first time ever, with new highs regularly being achieved for the network. A high hash rate indicates surging mining activity on the Bitcoin network. This could be due to more miners scrambling to acquire more block rewards, or simply due to more efficient mining rigs entering the industry. 

Effect of Halving on Miners and a Next-Generation of Mining Rigs

With the next Bitcoin halving event being only six months away, the mining rig industry is rushing to roll out sophisticated and more powerful hardware to meet changing demands. As the reward rate goes down from the current 12.5 bitcoins for each mined block to 6.25, miners will want to mine even faster to get more coins within shorter time frames.

As such, we are witnessing a new wave of mining rigs, each more powerful than its predecessor. Some of the types of equipment are even up to about 500% more powerful than the older models, in terms of hash rate. 

Going by Bitcoin’s previous halving events, the crypto is likely to witness an upswing in the year before and after the event. This is especially likely, considering the currency continues to show strongly this year. Assuming that it remains on that path in the next few months, chances are it will experience an upswing after the next halving.

Bitcoin After 2140

One of the crucial aspects of Bitcoin’s survival is miners – the people who secure the network and verify transactions. Thus, a legitimate question is: what will happen to miners after every Bitcoin has been mined? After all, there won’t be any financial motivation – they will not be able to exchange their block rewards with cash. Will Bitcoin continue to function?

Fortunately, the network’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, envisioned this and addressed it with this statement: “Once a predetermined number of coins have entered circulation, the incentive can transition entirely to transaction fees and be completely inflation free.” What this means is besides block rewards, the Bitcoin protocol also provides transaction fees as a “compensation” option.

The transaction fees will rise after the maximum supply is reached; hence, mining will not be a loss. The only caveat is: currently, the fees pale in comparison to the reward of Bitcoins. However, as the rewards continue diminishing, the transaction fees will increase. The final result is the transaction fees will become valuable enough so that miners should continue verifying transactions. So, while new Bitcoins cease to enter into circulation, Bitcoin miners still get a payday. 

As these exciting chapters for the world’s pioneer’s currency continue to unfold, we can only wait and see how it holds up. It should particularly be interesting to see the coin prove its mettle after the next “halvening.”

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Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) – Everything You Need to Know

We cannot talk about Bitcoin Cash without understanding the fundamentals of Bitcoin. Bitcoin was created in response to the financial crisis of 2008/2009. Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of this revolutionary network, envisioned a world where people would transact financially without the need for intermediaries. Bitcoin did not just eliminate intermediaries in financial transactions. It also made transactions more secure, convenient, and faster.

However, scalability issues, slow transaction speeds, and extortionate transaction costs associated with BTC prompted some stakeholders to discuss proactive measures to counter rising resistance from different quarters and competition from emerging solutions. This led to the ultimate birth of BCH – or bitcoin cash.

The Birth of Bitcoin Cash

Bitcoin Cash was launched in August 2017 by the Bitcoin network as its hard fork, with the primary objective of improving scalability. A hard fork is simply an alternative of the original coin – the BTC. And since the alternative – in this case, the Bitcoin cash- could not be accepted by 100% of the users, there was a split. And this led to the birth of the Bitcoin Cash.

In this case, Bitcoin cash is similar to the original bitcoin, but not necessarily identical. Bitcoin cash was born as a result of the recommended updates to the BTC’s protocol that were not agreed upon by everyone.

To understand the need for BCH, we need to pause a little and reflect on some of Bitcoin’s limitations: the block size and scalability issues. Well, as you may know, transactions on the Bitcoin network are confirmed in blocks. And a single block is confirmed every 10 minutes. The maximum size of each block is 1Mega Bite, which can only hold a maximum of 2700 transactions. This, in turn, limits the Bitcoin network to about 2700 transactions every 10 min, which translates to 4.6 transactions per second.

Comparing that to the VISA network that processes 1700 transactions per second, you will understand just why Bitcoin scalability was an issue. As a result, two separate camps emerged with solutions to this scalability. One camp suggested the need to have the block size increased from the current 1mb to 8mb. Such that the network would be eight times faster. The second camp was against the whole idea of increasing the block size and instead looked for solutions to optimize transaction size handling. This debate went on for a while and eventually led to the proponents of a bigger block size creating the Bitcoin cash.

BCH key achievements

☑️Bitcoin Cash has comparatively cheaper transaction fees, estimated at $0.20 per transfer. That means people will save a lot of money, unlike with Bitcoin, which charges around $1 per transaction. It should be remembered that charges once shot up to an all-time high of $30 per transaction on the bitcoin network.

☑️Bitcoin Cash is way faster in processing transfers, so you won’t have to wait for an hour for a transaction to confirm.

☑️With Bitcoin Cash, more people can transact at the same time as it is capable of processing numerous transactions per second – 116 transactions per second. That is not the case with Bitcoin.

The above features have been made possible as a result of the Bitcoin Cash block expanding to 8 times larger than a Bitcoin block. This has consequently made BCH not only cheaper and faster than BTC but also a lot more scalable. That would explain why more people are adopting BCH as their preferred cryptocurrency in a fast-developing digital market.

Valuation of Cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin Cash Vs. Bitcoin

As a novice, you may be wondering where cryptocurrencies derive their actual value. Naturally, cryptocurrencies such as BCH and BTC get their value from their levels of adaptation, and that includes their use and demand.

Analyzing them from the points of growth in value as well as ROI, these two currencies hold substantial value. Bitcoin has been around for much longer and is more valuable, but Bitcoin Cash has been consistently gaining users, and hence, its value has continued to soar.

Bitcoin Cash may be one of the newest entrants into the market, but how it sought to address the drawbacks associated with “established cryptocurrencies” can only suggest good times ahead. First and foremost, scaling issues synonymous with Bitcoin are considered a major turn off to potential investors, and the fact that Bitcoin Cash conclusively addressed them comes as good news from every perspective you look at it.

The projection on the ground spells dark times ahead for Bitcoin unless their developers work harder in fixing the issues pointed out. In the meantime, Bitcoin Cash will continue serving as the popular choice for more people who would wish to transact with reliable cryptocurrency.

Conclusion 

Given how the globe is embracing crypto technology as an alternative to traditional banking and trade, structural advancements on Bitcoin Cash (and other cryptocurrencies) are inevitable. As we grasp with the growth of the digital scene, everything points towards a convenient, cost-effective way of transacting. Whether BCH will eventually attain its goal as the ultimate solution or not, we have already seen and experienced its purpose in wholesome. Save for the wars of recognition, all that seems to matter is how far or how strong BCH will hold on, and how it will push other currencies to follow suit in simplifying money transfer and trade in general for generations to come. 

So far, so good. The lines are being drawn on the distinction between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. It doesn’t matter who produces the goods, but what the world needs is a reliable, consistent currency that puts the interests of the masses first. 

 

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Crypto Guides

What Is A Bitcoin Address & Why Should You Know About Them?

Introduction

In our previous articles, we have seen the properties, purpose, and working of cryptocurrencies taking bitcoin as an example. Now, let’s understand what a Bitcoin address is. This topic is vital since It is this address that enables Bitcoin to hold the property of Psuedonomity.

The transactions of Bitcoins are stored in a public decentralized distributed ledger. When we say its a public ledger, anyone can go to the Bitcoin website and check the transactions which are validated in the blockchain platform in real-time. One might wonder, in such case, how the pseudonymity of the user is ensured? Here comes the role of the Bitcoin address.

What is a Bitcoin address?

Two people transact Bitcoins using the Bitcoin address of each other. If we take the analogy of a bank, a Bitcoin address can be compared to the bank account number of a person. One should let the other person know their Bitcoin address for the transaction to happen. A typical Bitcoin address is alphanumeric, with 16-35 characters.

Currently, there are three types of address formats. The address formats only differ with respect to the characters which they begin with. The addresses start with either 1, 3, or bc1. Below are some of the examples of standard Bitcoin addresses.

1BvB6SEYstWetqTFn5Au8m6GFg7xJaNVN2

3J9891WpEZ73CNmQviecrn7iWrnqR4WNLy

bc1qar6srrr78fkvy5l643ly9nw9re59gtzzwf5mdq

Generating a Bitcoin Address

To generate a Bitcoin address, you should first download a bitcoin wallet. A Bitcoin wallet is a software that allows users to send, receive, and store Bitcoins securely. Storing Bitcoins is nothing but storing the private keys of that Bitcoin. These private keys are used to authorize a transaction and thereby unlocking the Bitcoins. More about Private keys and types of wallets will be discussed in further articles. So basically, once you download the wallet, you can generate a countless number of Bitcoin addresses. Every time you want to sell or receive Bitcoins, you can request a new Bitcoin address.

How to use the Bitcoin address effectively?

Even though your identity is not mentioned upfront, you can be traced by your Bitcoin address. Some wallet providers might ask for your identities while creating a Bitcoin wallet. Some times, even your e-mail ID will be linked to your Bitcoin address. So it is always advisable to generate a new Bitcoin address for each transaction you choose to do. Since Bitcoin is a public ledger, anyone can know how many Bitcoins you hold using your Bitcoin address. It is a time-consuming process, but there is a possibility. That is what we are trying to say. However, if a single-use address is used, they can’t know the exact amount you hold.

Since the Bitcoin address is long with alphanumeric characters, it gets difficult for someone to actually type out the entire address to send Bitcoins to you. So the best way to share your Bitcoin address is by getting a relevant QR code. Using a QR code to represent your address is the best way to make your address easily accessible to anyone. Anyone can scan and process the payments just by scanning the QR code without any hiccups.

Conclusion

The Bitcoin address plays an essential role in the entire Bitcoin functionality as it is the face of any Bitcoin transaction. One thing a person will know through your Bitcoin address is the account balance associated with that address. So it is not recommended to share your address publically on any of the social media platforms. As discussed, try to use different Bitcoin addresses every time you transact. However, you can publically share any one of your addresses in order to be extra secure. Cheers!

 

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Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Oct 17 – Bears Taking Over, Cryptocurrencies in the Red

Cryptocurrency market’s attempt to stabilize its price after the new highs last week has failed, and bears have started taking over. Slowly but steadily, most cryptocurrencies lost their gains and then some. The past 24 hours came with an increase in volume as bear presence increased.  Almost every single cryptocurrency ended up in the red today. Bitcoin fell down 2.13%, while Ethereum lost 2.91% of its value. XRP held on a bit better and lost only 1.99%, which would put it at the spot of the cryptocurrency that lost the least in the past 24 hours out of the top10 (excluding Tether).

 

Bitcoin’s dominance has increased slightly when compared to the previous day. It now sits at 66.4%, which represents a 0.02% increase from yesterday.

Most cryptocurrencies ended up being in the red in the past 24 hours, which reflected on the market cap of the cryptocurrency industry as a whole. The industry now has a market capitalization of $217.73 billion.

What happened in the past 24 hours

As volume increased steadily for a couple of days now, people were expecting a move upwards. However, they were greeted with a surprise as the market started dropping in price. As suspected yesterday, we can now say with certainty that the volume is coming from the bears instead of bulls, at least in the past couple of days. Most cryptocurrencies tested their immediate support lines and broke them downwards, trying to reach a point of consolidation. Only a handful of cryptocurrencies managed to stay out of the red today, while most of the cryptocurrencies lost several percents of their value.

Technical analysis

Bitcoin

Bitcoin’s short-term chart looks pretty grim at the moment. The bulls have seemingly left the building, and the bears are running the place. With volume increasing dramatically (and not just for one quick spike), Bitcoin seems to be dropping down slowly all throughout the day. The price seems to drop quickly and then consolidate at the next support line, which then gets rejected, and the price gets lower. That’s exactly what happened three times since the last green day Bitcoin has had. Bitcoin’s immediate support is currently at $7,912, and it is holding up well for now.


 

Bitcoin’s RSI has just left the oversold territory while the price remained on the same level. As for volume increases, it looks like that the big downward-facing price spikes require less and less volume, while volume during consolidation periods is increasing.

Ethereum

As stated in yesterday’s article, Ethereum started mirroring Bitcoin’s movements due to a lack of identity at the moment (mostly volume). Ethereum started falling in price slowly, dropping from $181 to $179, which is when the big drop happened. The spike dropped Ethereum from $179 all the way down to $172 in just over one hour. This price level became support as Ethereum rejected lower price points. The price is now in between the $172 support line and the $176.3 resistance line.


While its volume seems to be elevated, it does not seem enough to break from the major influence that Bitcoin has become.

XRP

Unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum, XRP did not have such a bad day. Even though it lost some value, it did not break any support lines. One the other hand, it did fail to break a resistance line as it tried to push past $0.2855 on one occasion. After the attempt of breaking the resistance failed, XRP dropped down to its support line, which is sitting at $0.282 and bounced from it to the middle of the “range.” If other cryptocurrencies keep dropping in value slightly every day, XRP might follow, but there is also a high probability of it just staying where it is price-wise as the bear volume avoided coming into it (at least for now).


XRP has not seen the same volume increase as with Bitcoin and Ethereum, which further proves that bear money has entered the market (it just avoided XRP for some reason).

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Crypto Daily Topic

Cryptocurrency market whales – Market manipulation

Advancements in the IT technology sector globalized almost every single market in the world. People are exposed to more information and content than ever. This brings many opportunities but also false information. Many people have put traditional market trading aside and chose cryptocurrency trading instead. Cryptocurrency markets bring more risk with them due to extreme volatility, but this also means more opportunity. However, most traders do not know how these markets are “playing out” in the real world, and reality hits them only when they lose their hard-earned money.

This article will hopefully shed light on how big market participants can influence the markets in a somewhat shady and secretive way.

Who are the whales?

As we mentioned in the previous articles, whales are people with enormous amounts of capital to invest in cryptocurrencies. They can be financial institutions but also groups of high net worth individuals. Over 40% of Bitcoin is currently owned by a small minority of people (around 1,000). With this much money in their hands, market manipulation can be quite easy.

Why does market manipulation even happen?

The answer is quite simple: Mostly to profit from it. Some people might indicate that a growing Bitcoin is not an ideal thing from the perspective of financial institutions and governments as they want to keep power in their own hands. However, there is no proof that this is the main reason for market manipulation. As with any tradable asset, people are concerned with their portfolios and risk management, and market manipulation maximizes reward potential while minimizing risk.

Two most common ways of whale market manipulation

CFD and manipulation

Many people thought that putting Bitcoin in front of a broader audience would be a good thing. However, not every way of putting it in front of the whales is a good way to do it. With CME launching their Bitcoin futures, people were expecting great things. Little did they know that this would be one of the main contributors to Bitcoin’s manipulated price.

CFD contracts are trading Bitcoin contracts, but are not actually settled in Bitcoin. This has opened a whole new way to manipulate the cryptocurrency markets.

CFD traders would short Bitcoin and then use their immense funds to influence the real Bitcoin market to drop in price. This is extremely profitable as the whales profit both from settling the short-selling contracts and from rebuying Bitcoin at a lower price. This type of market manipulation has become so obvious that, as CME futures are being settled every last Friday of the month, Bitcoin’s price falls dramatically just a few days before that. This has not happened once or twice, though; it has become a monthly occurrence.

Market spoofing

Another way of influencing the price into rising or falling is by controlling the market sentiment. This is what whales use to complement their CFD positions, or just to make a profit from trading directly. Any trader that has large enough capital can affect cryptocurrency prices simply by using a strategy called spoofing. Spoofing can be described as putting an enormous buy and sell orders above or below the current price with no intention of letting the orders fill, but rather than just wanting to “guide” the market in a specific direction. After the market acknowledges the whale position, it moves the opposite way as it sees the order as a buy/sell wall. As soon as it impacts the market, the order is taken down, and the cycle can repeat. This strategy is very cunning, but it is also very effective. But, has order spoofing contributed to Bitcoin going up and down?

The answer is both “no” and “yes.” Yes, spoofing occurred and is currently happening in Bitcoin and altcoin trading. Spoofing is undoubtedly affecting the price to change directions regularly. However, it was never done in such an obvious way that we can undeniably say that spoofing caused a significant market trend to change direction. Spoofing might have impacted the lower time-frame market direction, but to say that it altered the market in a big way would be far-fetched.

Conclusion

Whales control the cryptocurrency market just as they control any other market. As cryptocurrencies are a rather new concept, institutions have not immersed themselves fully into crypto trading. However, the market manipulation that they use is far more effective in this market as traditional markets tend to be far more liquid and less susceptible to manipulation. Traders should consider this whenever they take a position.

On the other hand, not everything is bad. Traders can actually use the knowledge of how markets work and implement the possibility of market manipulation into their strategy. If done correctly, it may bring additional profits or mitigate losses.

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Cryptocurrencies

Understanding Litecoin – A step by step guide

Litecoin is a peer to peer, decentralized digital currency that is based on the Bitcoin protocol. It uses Scrypt as its proof of work (an algorithm for confirming transactions by other network participants). Litecoin (LTC) uses blockchain technology to maintain a public ledger of all transactions. The currency is referred to as Bitcoin’s lighter sibling as it was created using the Bitcoin source code, but it can be mined 4 times faster than Bitcoin (BTC). This, in addition to its lower price, makes it more suitable for faster, everyday purchases.

History of Litecoin 

Litecoin was created in 2011 by Charlie Lee, a former Google employee. It was released on October 7, 2011, via the open-source client GitHub, with the network going live on the 13th of the same month. This makes it the first altcoin – a term used to describe all other cryptocurrencies besides Bitcoin.

Since it was launched, it has experienced stable growth and ranks 7th in market capitalization today. Charlie’s mission was to create a cryptocurrency that had the same tight levels of security like Bitcoin, but more suitable for everyday transactions.

Differences between Litecoin and Bitcoin

Litecoin is, by its creator’s own admission, a clone of Bitcoin. If we are to understand Litecoin, comparison with Bitcoin is therefore necessary. These characteristics set the two cryptos apart: 

☑️Mining Algorithm: Both currencies use a proof-of-work algorithm. Bitcoin uses the SHA-256 algorithm, whereas Litecoin uses Skrypt. The SHA-256 is famous for its complexity and uses more power, while Scrypt is computationally less intensive and uses more memory, but also less power.

☑️Transaction Speed: Litecoin’s block time, i.e., the time it takes to process a block, is 2.5 minutes while Bitcoin’s is 10 minutes. This makes Litecoin 4 times faster and also more capable of processing more transactions in any time frame.

☑️Total Coins: Bitcoin has a market supply of 21 million coins, while Litecoin maxes out at 84 million. While it would appear that Litecoin has more potential, both cryptos have the ability to be broken down and transferred in very tiny amounts (for example, the minimum for BTC being a hundredth million or 0.000 00001). With both currencies being able to be divided down so much, the cost of one full coin is not consequential as it may seem.

☑️Rewards: When someone mines a block, they are rewarded a certain number of coins for their contribution to the network. The current block reward for both BTC and LTC is 12.5. Bitcoin’s rewards are halved after every 210,000 blocks have been mined while Litecoin’s reward halving happens after every 840,000 blocks. Because of the block time difference of 2.5 min and 10min for LTC and BTC, respectively, there is more opportunity for LTC miners to be rewarded. 

Current Litecoin Statistics

Litecoin is currently trading at $55.92, with its market cap being $3.5B. Its 24-hour volume is $2.6B and its circulating supply of 63, 476, 342 with a maximum supply (market cap) of 84 million. Its All-Time High was $375.29 in December 2017 with its All-Time Low being in January 2015 at $1.11. 

Characteristics of Litecoin

Just like with other mineable cryptocurrencies, Litecoin has several familiar elements that differentiate it from other types of digital currencies. Some of these are:

☑️Pseudonymous addresses – meaning users can transact without revealing their personal credentials, but the public address still having the possibility of being linked to them

☑️Blockchain – which is a public ledger where all transactions are recorded  

☑️Block Rewards – people who perform the computational work to effect transactions on the BLockchain are rewarded with a specific number of LTC coins   

☑️Transactions are peer to peer (meaning between two computers, without a regulating authority), and are censorship-resistant (meaning no corporation or government can interfere with them) 

How to Invest in Litecoin 

Investing in Litecoin means swapping your currency for Litecoin currency. For instance, 1 Litecoin is equal to $54.81 today. When the value of Litecoin rises, you can exchange Litecoins back to dollars. To invest in Litecoin, you need a digital wallet. So far, Coinbase is one of the best digital wallets where you can buy/sell and store your Litecoins and other cryptocurrencies.

What are the Risks of Trading Litecoin? 

As with other cryptocurrencies, there is not much history to compare the future performance of Litecoin. Since it’s still so “young”, the question of how you can estimate its future value is difficult to answer. Here are some risks associated with trading Litecoin: 

  • Changes to international capital controls may cause a decline in demand for cryptocurrencies. Countries such as China have laws that regulate the flow of capital out of the country – driving people to invest in cryptocurrencies to circumvent such restrictions. A change in these laws could affect Litecoin’s demand.    
  • Cryptocurrencies are still largely unregulated, rendering them a risky option for some
  • Litecoin is prone to market fluctuations – though many investors regard this is a positive risk 

Uses of Litecoin

Litecoin can function as any fiat currency (money that has been declared by the government as legal tender), and it can be used to pay for goods and services. An increasing number of businesses are accepting Litecoin as a legitimate means of exchange. From pet supplies to jewelry to cars to music to health and beauty, food, and travel, there are many places where the currency can pass.

You can also transfer quickly Litecoin to anyone, anywhere, thanks to its short block time and confirmation rate. 

Also, due to its often wild fluctuations – much like other cryptocurrencies, it is a very attractive investment for investors, who can bet on its exponential increase at any given time.  

Conclusion 

Litecoin has witnessed steady growth since its creation and by the look of things, it will only become stronger. This is due to its impressive processing time, and its adoption by trusted crypto exchange and storing platform, Coinbase. Remember, before investing in Litecoin or any other cryptocurrency; it’s important to do your research.

 

 

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Crypto Guides

How Does A Cryptocurrency Work? (Example – Bitcoin)

In the previous articles, we have learned the definition, properties, and purpose of cryptocurrency. But it is vital for us to know how cryptocurrencies work. In this article, let us find out that by taking the example of Bitcoin.

Below are some of the important terminologies you should know before going further.

Peer to Peer Network (P2P) – The networks where computational devices are joined together with the internet instead of using a central server are called peer to peer networks. Hence there is less chance of a network failure than the standard server model to form a network.

Miners – Miners are the participants in the network who validate transactions. Thus, the creation of new Bitcoins is often referred to as the mining of bitcoins.

Nodes – The individual computational devices in the network are called nodes. The nodes are joined to form a P2P network.

Consensus algorithms – To validate the transactions, the miners in the network should agree whether a transaction is valid or not. The blockchain network uses consensus algorithms to get this job done.

How does the Bitcoin network work?

The blockchain network is set up in a peer to peer way, enabling decentralization of the network effectively, removing the server model. Bitcoin network bundles a certain number of transactions into a block, and these blocks are linked using cryptographic hashing techniques. The miner should validate these blocks for the authenticity of the transactions. To confirm them, the system proposes a challenge to the miners, and the first miner to solve the problem, propagates the message throughout the network. The solution to the challenge is called ‘nonce.’ The complexity of finding this nonce increase as the number of blocks keeps increasing in the system. The other miners validate and approve the transactions if the transactions are not fraudulent.

Bitcoin as reward

The miner who achieves the solution first gets rewarded in the network in the form of Bitcoins. This is how and why the Bitcoins are generated in the network. The miners should be rewarded to keep them motivated and committed to the network. Without miners, the network wouldn’t be sustainable.

To transact Bitcoins in the network, users must pay transaction fees as well. These transaction fees are also in Bitcoin. Hence these transaction fees and Bitcoins generated are paid as a reward to the miners for validating the transactions.

POW as a consensus algorithm

Bitcoin uses Proof of Work (POW) as a consensus algorithm. POW proposes a challenge to the network, which is to be solved to validate the transactions. But why is it necessary? Because POW discourages denial of service. Below are the steps involved in POW in general.

  • The service requester requests service from the service provider.
  • The service provider gives a challenge that should be a bit complex for the service requester to resolve but easy enough for the service provider to check.
  • The service provider proposes this challenge to avoid the exploitation of the service from the service requester.

The exact same concept is used in the Bitcoin network, as well. The miner must expend a considerable amount of computational energy and electricity to solve the challenge. Because by doing this, he/she will not validate fraudulent transactions to be accurate. If they do validate fake transactions, they will lose all the time and computational power they spent and also the chance of gaining a reward. POW is the most efficient consensus algorithm so far, and it makes the Bitcoin network efficient.

We hope you understood the working of Bitcoin. Cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin with different blockchains and consensus work in a different way. You will know about each of them in the upcoming articles. Let us know if you have any questions in the comments below. Cheers!

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Oct 16 – Another Red Day in Play

The cryptocurrency market has been trying to recover and find a point of consolidation for some time now. While most cryptocurrencies ended up in green yesterday, that is not the case today. Bitcoin fell down 2.05%, while Ethereum lost 3.05% of its value. XRP held on a bit better and lost only 1.47%.  Bitcoin SV did the best out the top10 cryptocurrencies, being the only one in the green. It managed to gain 6.11% in the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin’s dominance hasn’t changed all that much from yesterday, but it did fall a few fractions of a percent. Its dominance now sits at 66.2%.

Most cryptocurrencies lost a few percents of their value, which reflected on the market cap of the cryptocurrency industry as a whole. The industry now has a market capitalization of $222.99 billion, which represents close to a $5 billion drop from yesterday.

What happened in the past 24 hours

A steady increase in volume and a green day for most cryptocurrencies indicated bulls rallying. Today, however, prices fell even with the volume keeping its level. The volume seems to have been coming from the bears instead of bulls today. Most cryptocurrencies tested their immediate support lines and broke them downwards, trying to reach a point of consolidation. While some cryptocurrencies only lost a fraction of a percentage, many lost a couple of percent of their valuation.

Technical analysis

Bitcoin

After a green day yesterday, Bitcoin seemed strong as it tried to establish a support line at $8,300 and even contest new highs. The bulls could not pass through $8,395, which is when bears seem to have taken over. With volume remaining at the same levels, Bitcoin started dropping down slowly until one big red candle, which brought its price from $8,326 all the way down to $8,078. This price got rejected quickly, and Bitcoin found its new short-term support at the $8,130 level.


Bitcoin’s RSI is currently not in overbought or oversold territory, but the current position does not look good. If the price goes under the support level, Bitcoin might have to look for new support at a level below $8,000.

Ethereum

Ethereum suffered from the same faith as Bitcoin today. After having a great day, the bulls lost momentum, and bears took over. Unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum had low volume levels throughout the week. After failing to break the $188 price point, Ethereum went down to $176. As with Bitcoin, this price got rejected, and Ethereum found support at the 0% Fib retracement line, which sits at $177.85.


Ethereum seems to have low volume levels apart from the sudden spikes in volume, which correct its price upwards or downwards. This fact might implicate that Ethereum has a high probability of mirroring Bitcoin’s movements in the short-term.

XRP

XRP lost the least out of the top-three cryptocurrencies today. This fact can mainly be attributed to its superb gains from the day before. With its volume looking good, yesterday’s move had to retrace a little in order for it to be a healthy move.


With XRP not having enough strength to pass $0.3, bears decided to take things into their own hands. The price dropped to $0.283 but quickly sprung up to $0.286, which now represents its immediate support. It is still uncertain whether XRP will try to push higher, consolidate or try its luck at a lower price point.

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Crypto Guides

Why Do We Need Cryptocurrencies? What Is Their Purpose?

Introduction

Cryptocurrencies are digital tokens used in the place of conventional fiat currency for the exchange of goods and services. The digital tokens are generated and regulated using encryption techniques called cryptographic hash functions, ensuring security and anonymity.

Why do we need cryptocurrency?

We are living in the digital era, where everything around us is changing swiftly. Not only our phones are smart now, but also our homes. We can speak and see people using video calls at a very cheap rate now. With virtual reality, we can create a different world around us by sitting on a couch. All of these weren’t even possible just a decade ago. But technological innovation has bought us to where we are today. We are amid the fourth industrial revolution today, which fundamentally changes the way we live, work, and relate to each other. Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Blockchain technologies pave the way for the same. Hence came the age of digital currencies, and they are transforming the way we transact with each other throughout the world.

Let us see in a particular way below on how cryptocurrencies can solve the problems that our traditional fiat currencies cannot solve.

Fraudulent currency

Cryptocurrencies solve the issue of fraudulent currencies. As they are generated and regulated using cryptographic hashing techniques, it is highly impossible to create counterfeit currencies. They are not being minted to create a hard copy of the same type with the same feature. These digital tokens are stored in the blockchain platform, where there is no worry of duplicity.

Double spending

The concept of digital currencies was there even before Bitcoin, but they couldn’t be attained in reality. The obstacle was the double-spending. A digital asset shouldn’t be spent twice to different persons at the same time. Today’s cryptocurrencies operate on blockchain technology. Blockchain technology effectively deals with the double-spending problem as there is a validation procedure involved using a consensus mechanism.

Transferring funds

We can transfer vast amounts of funds to any country around the world in less than 10 minutes. There is no limit to the transaction. The transaction fees are low when we compare with the traditional transaction charges. It takes around 3 to 5 days when we transact using a fiat currency of that size. Taking this much time is not efficient in this age of digital, and cryptocurrencies came to the rescue.

Decentralized network

Cryptocurrencies are generated in a decentralized network without any central bank controlling the system. Since there is no one controlling it, the currency will be stable if the credibility and maintenance of the system are good.

Bottom line

It is time for us to at least try using these cryptocurrencies. Traditional currencies are not going anywhere in the near future, but some credible cryptos are already proving their purpose by solving the problems that fiat currencies couldn’t solve.  Governments have also recognized the huge benefits that these currencies offer and are making or changing laws to favor cryptocurrencies. Not many governments have regulated these digital tokens yet, but the move has started.

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Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Oct 15 – Gradual 24-Hour Volume Increase

The cryptocurrency market has been trying to recover and find a point of consolidation in the past 24 hours. Most of the cryptocurrencies ended up slightly in the green, while some even went up by quite a bit. While Bitcoin gained only 0.86%, Ethereum went up by 2.57% and XRP by 5.75%. Stellar was the biggest gainer of the day out of the top10 cryptocurrencies by market cap, gaining 7.08%.

Bitcoin has remained a dominant force in the industry as it always was, but it has dropped a few fractions of a percent today. Its dominance now sits at 66.25%.

As mentioned above, most cryptocurrencies kept their price levels or went up in the past 24 hours. This could translate to the overall market cap of the cryptocurrency market in a positive way. The industry now has a market capitalization of $227.11 billion.

What happened in the past 24 hours

After a red weekend, cryptocurrencies are trying to recover and settle at their respective price levels. Most of them had a slight increase in volume and a few attempts to break immediate resistances. Some made it through, and some didn’t. Even so, almost all of the top cryptocurrencies maintained their price levels or went above their most recent lows, which could only indicate a return of the bulls. This time, Bitcoin is not the main player, as many altcoins managed to outperform it.


Technical analysis


Bitcoin

Once the low of $8,133 got rejected, Bitcoin tried to find a price to settle at. It was unsure whether that price will be above or below the 23.6% Fib retracement line, which is now at the price of just below $8,300. However, as volume gradually increased during the day, Bitcoin went above the line and contested the next resistance twice. The $8395 line was not so kind to Bitcoin as it could not pass through it either time. Both attempts were rejected, and Bitcoin is now settling in between the Fib retracement line 23.6%, which now acts as support and Fib retracement 38.2% line, which is the immediate resistance.


As Bitcoin is now in a limbo between the two lines, RSI shows us that it’s not oversold or overbought. One thing that is different this time is that, unlike over the weekend, the volume increase was not sudden and a one-time thing. Bitcoin’s volume in the past 24 hours has been elevated, rather than it being one big spike of volume and then back to normal.


Ethereum

Ethereum has, similar to Bitcoin, denied its low of $178 and tried to find a price to consolidate at. With new money seemingly coming in, Ethereum slowly moved above the 23.6% resistance line now turning support, but quickly lost its momentum and headed straight back down. However, the bulls rallied, creating a sudden spike in price, skyrocketing Ethereum past two resistance lines ($182 and $185.5). The bullish sentiment toned down at that point, making the upward-facing move unable to reach another milestone and pass $188. Ethereum kept its daily gains and is now consolidating at $187.



XRP

XRP has had a great day. Unlike Bitcoin, which managed to consolidate or Ethereum, which made a slight move upwards, XRP skyrocketed and breezed through its resistance lines. The move completely nullified the whole weekend of price losses and then some. Its price went up from $0.273 all the way up to $0.3, which is its significant resistance. XRP is currently making moves towards reaching above this price, and only time will tell if it will be broken soon or not. However, the volume seems to be gradually tapering off, which might not be a good sign for the XRP bulls.


 

Categories
Cryptocurrencies

Understanding Ethereum – A Step-by-Step Guide

When we thought we had heard it all about blockchain, and what it does, Ethereum sprang up. To many, it was seen as just another Bitcoin, but what most people didn’t know was that the project presented a timely idea, and a life-changing one whose implementation was bound to lead the world to new paths.

I know you’ve probably heard about Ethereum, but you’ve probably dismissed it as just another crypto. But what is it in the first place? Could it be just another crypto? Is it the same thing as ether? And what is it used for? Well, in this article, I’ll be expounding it in detail to answer these and to show you why Ethereum is not just another crypto.

What is Ethereum?

For starters, Ethereum is a software platform that allows developers to generate and deploy decentralized applications that are accessible globally. If you want to create a decentralized application, that not even you can control, then the Ethereum platform is the place to go. All you need to do is understand Ethereum’s programming language – solidity – and begin coding.

In simple words, Ethereum is the infrastructure that lets you run decentralized apps worldwide.

You will find some people using the words Ethereum and ether interchangeably. So is Ethereum and Ether one and the same thing? Well, let’s find out.

Ethereum and Ether – Are they any different?

The concept of Ethereum and Ether can be a little confusing. When we hear Ethereum, we are quick to associate it with other cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. To make it clearer, Ethereum is a platform built on blockchain where developers can build and deploy thousands of applications using smart contracts.

Ether, on the other hand, is the fuel that powers the Ethereum network, and the programmable money sold on cryptocurrency exchanges. 

The same way you’ll need gas for your car, ether is necessary for you to deploy and run applications on the platform. Ether is the power behind smart contracts and running DApps, token generation during ICOs, making payments, and facilitating transactions on the ETH blockchain.

In summary:

Ethereum is the platform; ether is what powers the platform

Ether can be bought and sold, Ethereum cannot

Ethereum has multiple applications; ether has a single application, enabling operations on the parent blockchain.

So, are Ethereum and Bitcoin similar?

Well, the two are similar in that they are both blockchain networks, but there are some significant technical disparities between the two. There is a very substantial difference between Bitcoin and Ethereum in both purpose and capability. While the former track’s ownership of digital currency, the latter’s primary focus is to support decentralized applications. 

In short, we can say that Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer currency that can be transferred instantly between transacting parties securely. Ethereum, on the other hand, supports smart contracts. And if you are wondering to yourself what a smart contract is, then you will be pleased to know that at the core of these Decentralized applications is a smart contract. So, what exactly is a smart contract?

What is a Smart contract in Ethereum?

A smart contract is simply a phrase coined to describe best “a computer code that can veto the exchange of property, money, content, shares, or anything valuable.” In blockchain language, a smart contract is a self-executing computer program that completes whenever certain conditions are met. It is a programmed code that runs without the possibility of third-party influence, fraud, downtime, or censorship.

All blockchains can process code, but most of them are limited. With Ethereum, it becomes different. Instead of allowing for limited operations, Ethereum lets developers create as many applications as they can, something never experienced before.

What are the uses of Ethereum?

The main use of Ethereum is to enable developers to create and deploy decentralized apps where these decentralized apps, also known as DApps, serve particular functions to users. By virtue of being built on a blockchain, decentralized apps are not controllable by any person or central system.

Ethereum can be used to decentralize any centralized service. From the existing intermediary services across a myriad of industries such as bank loans to other seemingly less interesting systems like voting and title registries, Ethereum can be used to get them all decentralized.

Another objective use of Ethereum is in the building of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO). This is an organization with no apparent leadership, run exclusively by programming code on a variety of smart contracts recorded on the Ethereum blockchain. The code takes the position of organization rules and structures, totally eliminating the need for a centralized control like in a traditional organization. Anyone who purchases tokens becomes a part-owner of a DAO, but instead of converting tokens to equity shares, tokens give people voting rights.

Ethereum is currently being accessed as a reliable platform for launching other cryptocurrencies. Following the ERC20 token standard laid down by the Ethereum Foundation, interested developers can also start their own versions and raise funds through an ICO. Through this strategy, token issuers set the amount of money they intend to raise before offering it in a crowd-sale in exchange for Ether. The last two years alone have witnessed ICOs raising Billions of dollars on the Ethereum platform.

Conclusion

For all the talk of decentralizing the system, Ethereum appears to be the ultimate solution. Its rise is suggestive of a market ready to embrace positive changes, and a platform for development in an area previously shadowed with uncertainties. It presents a bold claim for a futuristic technology unreliant on third-party forces, including social and political interferences. 

 

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Crypto Guides

Bitcoin – The First Scalable Cryptocurrency Ever!

In the previous article, we have discussed the evolution and properties of cryptocurrencies. Now, let’s understand Bitcoin, which is the first scalable cryptocurrency.

Introduction

It has been around 11 years since Bitcoin has come into our lives. I am saying that because everyone who knows about bitcoin, at some point, would have wondered should they invest in it or not. Some have invested and gained so much from it. I’m sure you would have heard of the term Bitcoin millionaires. Of course, some have seen losses as well. Ever since the inception of Bitcoin, there is so much talk and hype about cryptocurrencies. Some governments have even made some changes to the existing laws to support cryptocurrencies. While some governments made laws against this digital currency. It all began with one crypto, Bitcoin. Hence, it is important for us to know the evolution of Bitcoin, which is still considered as a synonym of cryptocurrency.

How it all began?

It all began when a pseudonymous person called Satoshi Nakamoto released a whitepaper on October 31, 2008. The white paper described the blockchain technology and the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. When the technologists read the document, many thought it is ground-breaking technology and wanted to see it working in rea, while some wanted to explore the properties of blockchain other than cryptocurrencies. Nakamoto not only released the white paper but also mined the first block of the Bitcoin network in Jan 2009. Thus, he began the journey of Bitcoin.

The first-ever recorded transaction

The first recorded purchase transaction using Bitcoin happened in May 2010. Laszlo Hanyecz, a computer programmer,  paid 10,000 BTC for 2 Pizzas, and it was merely $25 back then. At today’s price of the bitcoin, the pizzas cost around $80 million. Cryptonizers celebrate that day as Bitcoin Pizza day to date.

Price history

In July 2010, the price of one Bitcoin was at $0.08. In February of 2011, the price came up to $1. Then it gradually started increasing as more and more people came to know of it and started investing. By June 2011, the price surged to $11. By April 2013, the bitcoin achieved a three-digit rate of $266. By November, the same year, it reached a four-digit figure of $1242.

Picture Credits – bitcoinwiki.org

From there on, there have been fluctuations depending on the demand and various rumors about the coin. In 2017 December, the price rose to $19,783.06, the highest ever. As of October 2019, the price of one Bitcoin is $8,300.

Birth of new coins from Bitcoin

Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold are two coins forked from the Bitcoin blockchain. These are some of the major altcoins (alternate coins) in today’s cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin inspired the birth of many other cryptocurrencies. We can say that these altcoins emerged only after Bitcoin proved the market potential. Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP are some of the examples.

Emergence of the cryptocurrency market

Cryptocurrency exchanges started their operations after the rise of new cryptos in the market. Bitcoinmarket.com is the first exchange ever. However, the exchange is defunct now. In July of the same year, Mt.Gox was launched as well. Around 2013 and in early 2014, nearly 75% of the Bitcoins transaction across the world happened through Mt.Gox. In 2014, they had to liquidate the funds because nearly 850,000 bitcoins were stolen from the exchange. This is the biggest disaster in Bitcoin history ever.

Bottom line

At present, everything in our life is getting digitalized. So why not the currency we use? Bitcoin is that new-age digital currency which has a massive potential to transform the currency space. It is not too much to say that it has achieved the same already. Let’s see what more wonders this crypto can create in the near future. Stay tuned for more exciting and engaging content. Cheers!

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Crypto Videos

Understanding Bitcoin, The People’s Currency

What is Bitcoin, and where did it come from?

Finance is an industry that constantly changes and evolves. It all started with trading food for livestock and livestock for other resources such as wood. However, it quickly evolved to using precious metals, such as silver and gold, for everyday transactions. After that, came the credit cards and e-banking. Finally, we came to the most recent stage, the last step in the evolution of the financial industry.

A new form of currency has been brought to the world, and it turned the world of finance upside-down. It was developed by an unknown person or a group of people and maintained by a collective group of the brightest minds in IT and finance. It’s a new form of money which is completely digital, fully autonomous, and not controlled by any government or central bank. The whole “monetary policy” of this new money is governed by the peer-to-peer network, which means that the market and its users decide how much it is worth. There is no money printing, diluting, or other form of government and central bank interference. This new money is called “Bitcoin.”


What is Bitcoin exactly?

Bitcoin is a decentralized currency that “lives” outside of the traditional financial system. As mentioned before, its network is fully peer-to-peer, which means that there are no intermediaries or centralized control. Many people see Bitcoin as the first truly “free” money as it is not controlled by centralized institutions.
Bitcoin, however, is not alone. It has sparked the growth of an entire industry, the industry of cryptocurrencies. Many of these cryptocurrencies started by leaving (forking from) the Bitcoin protocol, but some have created their own platforms.

Who made Bitcoin?

Bitcoin was created by a person or group of people, which, to this day, remained anonymous. All the public knows is the name “Satoshi Nakamoto” that stands behind making Bitcoin.
So who is Satoshi really? Is he even real? Despite various investigations happening, trying to unmask the mysterious veil of “Satoshi Nakamoto,” there is still no conclusive evidence of who they are. However, many people do not care who he is, as the reality is: It doesn’t matter. The mystery surrounding Satoshi Nakamoto is completely fitting, as their main goal was to achieve privacy for Bitcoin as well as its users. Bitcoin was made to work in an open-source manner, which makes the source code entirely available for anyone to see or use. There are no secrets or influences from its maker. Many people have worked on the Bitcoin project since its inception.

Many people also tried to claim Satoshi’s name, but have failed to prove it beyond any doubt. While we may never know who created Bitcoin, we surely do know that the technology he started made waves in the financial industry. It’s also worth mentioning that Satoshi did not invent Bitcoin all by himself. His creation was built on the foundation of many top scientists’, engineers’ and mathematicians’ work. Satoshi was, however, the first one that managed to put the breakthroughs in cryptography and economics theory together into one plan.
Who controls Bitcoin?


The main goal of Bitcoin is decentralization and autonomy. Bitcoin will remain to exist even if its makers and current developers never touched its code again. One of the main Bitcoin’s attributes is its independence from world governments, banks, and corporations. No authority can interfere with the Bitcoin protocol and its transactions. This means that there are no additional transaction fees or taking people’s money away. Bitcoin is also incredibly transparent, as every single transaction is being stored in a massive distributed public ledger called the Blockchain.
To sum it all up, Bitcoin is not being controlled as a network and gives its users complete control over their finances.

How does it work?

A user has a digital wallet where all their Bitcoins are stored. This wallet, besides showing the funds stored on it, shows all the transactions that happened that included this particular wallet. Users can send and receive Bitcoin to and from one-another fast and safe, all thanks to Bitcoin’s infrastructure. The Bitcoin network uses Blockchain, which is nothing but a public ledger. This ledger contains every transaction ever processed on the network and is completely transparent. New transactions are combined into “blocks” and processed that way.
If someone tries to change any part of the block, it will also affect all of the following blocks. However, that cannot happen due to it being a public ledger, as the attempt of changing a block can easily be spotted, and then corrected by anyone.

As every transaction requires to be validated by its users, the verification process may take a few minutes to be completed. The Bitcoin protocol is designed so that each block takes around 10 minutes to validate (mine).
Characteristics of Bitcoin
Here is the list of the most important characteristics of Bitcoin. Bitcoin is:
Decentralized
The main vision of Satoshi Nakamoto’s when creating Bitcoin was the network’s independence from any governing authorities. Even if a part of the network goes down, Bitcoin will still be alive.
Anonymous and transparent at the same time
Bitcoin gives the ability not to link the wallet to a person’s identity. This is especially important in the times when banks know every single detail about their clients.
However, the anonymity of Bitcoin only goes as far as not linking a wallet to a person. Every single transaction that ever happened is stored in the Blockchain and can be viewed by anybody at any time.

Fast

The Bitcoin network processes payments almost instantaneously as opposed to bank transfers, which may take a considerable amount of time to complete.

Non-repudiable

Once Bitcoins are sent to another wallet, there is no way of forcing them back. This characteristic of Bitcoin ensures that the parties to a transaction cannot deny that a transaction occurred and makes sure that no one gets scammed in the process of transacting with anonymous accounts.

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Crypto Guides

The Evolution & Properties Of Cryptocurrency!

Introduction

We could say that the type of currencies we use today is employed as a medium of exchange for goods and services. In the olden days, transactions used to happen in the barter system. Barter system implies that goods are exchanged for goods. With this system, it took time to trade products and services as it is challenging to find people to accept their goods for the goods they want. Hence came the era of coins in gold or some other metal with a denomination printed on it. As some standard is associated with it, the trading of goods and services has become easy. Then came the paper notes making it easy to carry large amounts of cash, which was not possible with coins. We are this point where these paper notes are known as currencies. Each country has its respective currency (The US Dollar, Japanese Yen, Indian Rupee, etc.)

Evolution Of Cryptocurrency

Even though the purpose of the money didn’t change much, the way we use it kept changing throughout history. Banks came into existence to ease out the financial transactions. They played a significant role in global trade in terms of transferring money across different countries, thus improving the economy of each country. Physically minted cash would be less than 10% of the entire currency in the world. Remaining exists in the form of virtual currency as electronic money in online accounts. Central banks in each country control these accounts. Since power is vested within these financial institutions, the entire banking process is centralized. Hence the necessity of an alternative currency has emerged. These are termed as cryptocurrencies, and the primary purpose of their invention is to create a decentralized currency system where the entire network is not controlled by anyone at all.

What Are Cryptocurrencies?

Cryptocurrencies are digital or virtual currencies where cryptographic techniques are used to generate the units of currency and monitor the transfer of funds without a central bank. Thus, making it a decentralized way of producing and using money.

Cryptocurrencies are generated by using a blockchain platform that uses distributed ledger technology. The first-ever cryptocurrency that has come into existence is The Bitcoin in 2009, though the white paper related to this concept was released in October of 2008. Thus, 2009 signals the beginning of the era of cryptocurrency. There has been no looking back since then.

Properties Of Cryptocurrency

The three fundamental features of cryptocurrencies are Trustlessness, Immutability, and Decentralization. Let us understand these properties using the example of Bitcoin.

Trustless

Though the word trustless creates confusion to the readers, it merely means there is no need not trust anyone or anything to send or accept a cryptocurrency. If we say an environment is trustless, that means there is no need for you to trust anyone in the network. The Bitcoin network is a trustless environment. There was no currency before Bitcoin that was not monitored by a central bank. Every node in the blockchain network has a copy of the ledger; thus, there is no need to trust any authority.

Immutability

Immutability means that it cannot be undone. It is highly improbable to rewrite the history of the transactions in Bitcoin blockchain. Since all the transactions are recorded in the blockchain, the cryptographic techniques make it highly impossible to change any transactions. If any fraudulent transactions happen in the case of our bank accounts, the banks have the authority to change the transaction. But in the case of cryptocurrency, it is not possible. Thus, removing the concept of centralization and trust from these digital currencies.

Decentralization

It is the keyword when it comes to cryptocurrencies. Decentralization offers different types of tolerances. Tolerance concerning the infrastructure, component failures, hacking, and collusions. In the Bitcoin network, the ledger where the transactions are recorded is distributed among every node in the network. Any component failures don’t cause any problem to the functioning of the network. Hacking the blockchain is extremely difficult and a costly process. When it comes to traditional banking, individual entities can collide with each other to make profits at the expense of loss to others. This plot is not possible in the case of a cryptocurrency network, thus offering tolerance to collusion. Apart from all of these, there are many more advantages of a decentralized system over a centralized banking network.

Bottom Line

Therefore, Cryptocurrencies offer plenty of opportunities in today’s digital world, which traditional currency couldn’t provide. We will be further discussing the purpose of cryptocurrency and more properties of cryptocurrency in our upcoming articles. Stay Tuned. Cheers!

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Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Oct 11 – Healthy Consolidation Following a Green Day

The cryptocurrency markets are almost entirely mimicking the happenings we covered a few days ago. The market is trying to find a balance point to consolidate at, just like it did a couple of days ago. While Bitcoin did not go down, the other cryptocurrencies still try to find their points of consolidation below their highs from yesterday. Bitcoin went up all the way to $8710 and kept almost the same price level throughout the day. Most of the cryptocurrencies reached RSI overbought territory and started to decline in price as well as in volume. Bitcoin gained 0.04% on the day, while Ethereum went down 0.49% and XRP by 3.21%. Most of the top cryptocurrencies are in slight red today, but there have been no significant price fluctuations.

Bitcoin has managed to score a few fractions of a percent and add them to the dominance chart as it was one of the cryptocurrencies that did not drop in price today. The market capitalization of the crypto markets decreased slightly over the past 24 hours and is now standing at $230.57 billion.

What happened in the past 24 hours

After the upward-facing move in price came into the markets yesterday, markets decided to consolidate as there were no major resistances that could be broken. Most cryptocurrencies consolidated at their daily highs or slightly below them. After the influx of new money coming into the market yesterday, charts showed us a considerable increase in volume. Even though the price jump is over, some of the volume managed to stay in the markets, which is now that much more liquid than it was before the jump.

Technical analysis

Bitcoin

After reaching the price of $8,710, Bitcoin started to show signs of a possible retracement as the volume began to lower. RSI entering heavily overbought territory further proved the case. Bitcoin, however, did not retrace at all. It just consolidated at nearly the same price that it went to the price spike. After drawing a new Fib retracement line from the start of the new price jump, we can see that it is still uncertain whether Bitcoin will go above or below the 23.6% retracement line. The 38.2% line was, however, tested once today. The price briefly dropped below it, but quickly recovered and gained slight upward momentum.


If we take a look at the volume, we can clearly see that it is not the same as it was during the spike. However, it can also be seen that the volume is much higher than what it was before the spike.

Ethereum

Ethereum has, following Bitcoin, going upwards yesterday. It reached a critical resistance line from September at $196 and bounced back from it. The price dropped as low as $188 but managed to recover some of its value. Ethereum is now trying to consolidate above or below the newly-made 38.2% Fib retracement line. It is more likely that the price will end up above the line at this moment as Ethereum keeps rejecting lower price points, but only time will tell where it will actually consolidate.


The volume, just like with Bitcoin, has increased when compared to what it was before the price spike.

XRP

Unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum, XRP did not have such a good day yesterday. It did go up but only touched $0.29 before dropping down to the price level of after the October 7th price spike. The price retraced all the way to the newly-made 61.8% Fib retracement line before finding support. That support seems to be holding for now.



XRP’s volume seems to have returned to the levels it was before the price jump, making it close to impossible to push through the immediate resistances.

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Crypto Daily Topic

Whale Transfers and Their Influence on Bitcoin Price

If you are a bitcoin enthusiast or trader, you probably know that the markets are prone to price swings triggered by such things as government regulations, market news, and the good old supply and demand.

But are you aware of a lesser-known factor that could cause BTC prices to plummet, spike, or even affect their market value? Whenever you’ve seen a sudden boom or a decline in BTC prices, it’s very likely those movements were caused by a “whale.”

But what are Whales in Crypto Space? 

Whales are known to have an enormous size and sheer strength. In cryptocurrency trading, whales are the biggest and most influential players in the “ocean.”

The reference to whales in crypto trading originates from traditional financial markets and gambling circles. The very term “crypto whales’ should give you a clue of the utter power of these players. It’s not hard to realize that a single transaction made by them is enough to cause waves that will reverberate throughout the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Who are the Bitcoin Whales?

The forefront question at this point is; just who are these so-called whales? Are they individuals, investment companies, are they even known at all? The answer is yes, and no.

Whales can be people with enormous amounts of capital to invest in cryptocurrencies, or they can be finance institutions like trusts and hedge funds. And yes, some whales are well-known people, beginning with bitcoin’s very creator – Satoshi Nakamoto, who is estimated to own at least a million bitcoins. Whales that are companies include Pantera Bitcoin Fund and Fortress Investment Group.

Currently, 40% of bitcoin is owned by just a thousand people. This means there are many anonymous whales in the market – and their movement could change the entire bitcoin landscape if someone decided to sell large portions of their holding.

How Whales Affect Bitcoin Prices  

The activity of whales can impact crypto markets significantly. Prices can dramatically decline or shoot up, and the market value can increase or decrease. When whales buy or sell a cryptocurrency, they do so in tens or even hundreds of millions, sending prices plummeting or spiking.

When a whale buys out massive volumes of BTC, it will drive the value of BTC high because it sends the signal that it is in demand.  The opposite is true for whale sell orders. BTC prices will drop because it will look like the currency is being disposed of, diminishing its value in the eyes of investors. 

To grasp the impact that whales can trigger on the market, consider when two anonymous whales sold over 13,000 BTC in 2018 (total value of the sell was more than $100 million). This fact caused the price to decline by a whopping $200 in just under 20 minutes.

Whale-Watching: How to Detect Whale Movement

In the crypto trading sea, it’s wiser to swim along with whales than to move in the opposite direction. So if you’re looking to buy or sell bitcoin, why not wait for a whale to emerge first?  Below are some clues that can help you spot whales on the horizon – before they make a big splash. 

Detecting When a Whale Is Buying:

If you’re a “small fish” wishing to buy bitcoin, doing so at the same time as whales can guarantee you good profits with low risks. Here are some tips for detecting when whales are buying:

☑️ Look For an Increase in Volatility and Price When the Markets Are Quiet 

If bitcoin has been trading at roughly the same price and suddenly there’s larger-than-normal volatility and price, there could be a whale or several whales who have entered the market.

☑️ Look Out for Strange Bid Sizes in the Order Book

Keep an eye out for significant increases in order books. If you spot a sudden swell in bid sizes, a whale might be in play. For instance, suppose the usual bid size is 1000 and the ask size 2000. When a crypto whale is trading, the order book will register abnormally high bid sizes.

Detecting When a Whale Is Selling

The very act of whales placing sell orders is risky for traders holding smaller positions because this usually liquidates huge sums of the asset. In this scenario, you don’t want to hold on to your bitcoins very long. Here’s how to track a selling whale:

☑️ Check Abrupt Cancellation of Large Buy Orders

If you just noticed big buy orders quickly vanish from the order book, there is a possibility that a whale or a group of them is about to do a massive offload (selling in large quantities).

☑️ Look Out For a Sudden Uptrend that quickly disappears

Did you notice a sudden surge in price momentum, which quickly disappears as fast as it came? It’s highly unlikely this change was triggered by market news or a disruptive news story. It signals the presence of a whale. 

☑️ Look out for A Strong volume Acceleration 

A rapid increase in volume is another indication a whale is in play. But just how big of a jump should you watch out for? Usually, you want to be on the lookout for more than 3x larger than the routine volume.

Conclusion

The inherent nature of crypto prices is they will always drop and spike from time to time. This is what makes cryptocurrency trading possible (and fun) because investors are betting against future movement of prices. Crypto whales are one of the most powerful price movers. Understanding what they are and when they are going to move could help you make more accurate and profitable trades.

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Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Oct 10 – Market pushes up again, majority of cryptocurrencies in the green

After yesterday’s day of consolidation, the markets decided to head up and test new prices. With increased volume and new money coming into the market, Bitcoin increased its price by 4.5%, while Ethereum managed to go up by 6.62% and XRP by 1.35%. After reaching RSI overbought territories, the prices started stabilizing at the same or slightly lower levels, while RSI managed to settle down.

As both Bitcoin and most altcoins are in the green, the total cryptocurrency market cap has increased. It is now hovering at around $231,8 billion, just down from the daily high of $232,47 billion. Bitcoin is still keeping its dominance high, currently being around 66.6%.

What happened in the past 24 hours?

Cryptocurrency markets, judging by the increase of volume, have had an influx of new money coming. That has sparked some solid price growth, especially if we expand our views to not only Bitcoin but the rest of cryptocurrencies. Out of the top50 cryptocurrencies, only eight have been in the red. Out of the eight being in the red, half of them are stablecoins, which happen to lose out when the cryptocurrency markets go up. On top of this upward-facing move, the prices are not consolidating far below the levels they reached today. In fact, most of the cryptocurrencies kept their gains and are looking promising in the short-term.

Technical analysis

Bitcoin

Bitcoin has reached a new short-term high of just above $8700, before stabilizing its price at just below $8,600. The new influx of money coming into the markets helped Bitcoin surpass the immediate resistances and start making its way up. With volume skyrocketing, Bitcoin flew through the immediate resistance lines and stopped as the volume started reducing. However, it did not lose its gains and started consolidating at the top, which is rarely seen. This move has sparked some new thoughts in terms of whether the altcoins season has started or not. As the price reached the top of the movement, RSI indicated it was heavily overbought but managed to reach lower levels as the price consolidated.

Ethereum

Ethereum has surpassed Bitcoin in gains today, reaching the price of $196.3. It has retained its gains and started consolidating at close to its daily highs, which is a highly bullish sign. However, that may not be as promising as it sounds. Ethereum found new resistance at the $196.3 line. This price point acted as support and resistance as far as September and proved to be effective as both support and resistance. Only time will tell whether Ethereum can surpass this resistance, or if it will fall back to its previous levels.

On a brighter note, Ethereum’s RSI is almost identical to the one currently seen on the Bitcoin chart. After being heavily in the overbought territory, it started to fall while the price did not follow it. Even though the volume died down quite a bit, it still sits at a higher level than what it was before today’s spike.

XRP

Unlike Bitcoin and Etherum, XRP did not have a particularly good day. XRP moved, fueled by the price growth of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, passed the 23.6% resistance line that the Fib retracement from the Oct 7th-Oct 8th move. However, it quickly found resistance at the top of the Fib retracement (0%), failed to break it, and retraced to the 23.6% line, which now acts as support.

Another thing separating XRP from the top2 cryptocurrencies at the moment is volume levels. Unlike the other two, XRP’s volume is currently lower than what it was before the upward-facing spike. Even with the RSI indicator reducing and the price staying relatively high, it might not be enough to keep XRP on a green path.

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Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Oct 8 – Strong support just below $8,000, Altcoins on the Rise

Bitcoin has recovered from testing the $8,000 line and dropping just slightly below it. The largest market cap cryptocurrency has had a green day, but so did other cryptocurrencies. While Bitcoin gained 3.9%, Ethereum went up by 5,24% and XRP by 7,5%. Out of the top10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, EOS did the best, gaining 8% on the day.

Figure 2- Heat Map of the crypto sector

Bitcoin dominance dropped slightly, now being 66,7% of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization of $222,73 billion.

Figure 2- 24H market capitalization and Traded Volume

What happened?

With no major news today besides PayPal officially pulling out of the Libra project, cryptocurrency markets are left to the pure buyer/seller sentiment and technical factors.

This is a crucial moment for the cryptocurrency market, as the next movement upwards or downwards will most likely decide where the market will go in the near future. Both the bulls and the bears have their case made, and it’s up to pure supply and demand to decide the future of the cryptocurrency valuation.


Technical analysis

Bitcoin

Bitcoin (BTC) has defended a key historical price support of around $7,700, which was a major factor in keeping the bulls in the game. If it weren’t for this move, the hopes of a corrective rally would be slim to none in the short term.

After rejecting the resistance line upwards, Bitcoin is stuck in a spot between its $8,500 suggested resistance and a key support level of around $7,700. However, a glimmer of hope for the bulls came today after Bitcoin managed to jump to $8,300, before consolidating just below it.

Figure 3 – Bitcoin/USD 30-minute candle chart

With the RSI indicator slowly moving away from the overbought territory, Bitcoin is stabilizing at the $8250 price level. The 23,6% Fib retracement line seems to be holding well as a temporary support line. Meanwhile, the volume is slowly reducing to the levels prior to today’s spike upwards.


Ethereum

After everyone thought that the Altcoin season would never come, Ethereum showed that that might not be the case. Even though highly correlated to the movements of Bitcoin, Ethereum managed to gain close to 1,4% more than the largest cryptocurrency today. With far more stable increase in volume, Ethereum paved the way for other cryptocurrencies to move upwards too.

Figure 4 – Ethereum/USD 30-minute candle chart

Ethereum did not seem to lose out on volume as much as Bitcoin did after the upwards spike, which resulted in a positive gain both when compared to the USD and the BTC. The Fib line of 23,6% got tested on four separate 30-minute candles, but the support line managed to hold. Ethereum is now consolidating around the price of $180.


XRP

XRP came out as the highest-gaining cryptocurrency in the top3, increasing in price by around 7,5%. However, it is can still be considered the most unstable of the three, technically speaking. With its volume differences, the highest of the three top cryptocurrencies (an instant large spike followed by unstable volume fluctuations), and the almost-immediate break of the first Fib retracement line, XRP is looking for a consolidation spot below its current price. The Fib retracement of 38,2%, which currently sits at $0.275, acts as its immediate support. However, that support line got tested on numerous occasions in the past 24 hours.

Figure 5 – XRP/USD 30-minute candle chart

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Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Oct 03 – Slight advances on Decreasing Volume

Yesterday, cryptocurrencies moved sideways during the European and American sessions. Then, they advanced slightly during the Asian session.  Bitcoin gained +1.71%. ATOM /+7.38%), and LINK(+8.63%) experienced the more significant gains of the last 24 hours. Market cap is currently $221.85 billion (+0.59%), and the dominance of the Bitcoin is 68.25%.

fig 1- 24H market capitalization and Traded Volum

 

Fig 2- Heat Map of the crypto sector

What is Happening?

An exchange-traded product (EPT) combining Bitcoin and Ethereum has been made available on SIX, Switzerland’s Stock Exchange.  The product comes from a collaboration between Fintech firm Amun AF and Bitcoin Suisse AG, a Swiss cryptocurrency custodian. The EPT trades under the ticker symbol ABBA.  Source: The Block.

US Congressmen French Hill and Bill Foster are worried the Dollar is left behind for the rise in cryptocurrencies and issued an open letter to the Federal Reserve asking Jerome Powell to create a Digital Dollar. Source: dailyhodl.com.

The Indonesia government is hosting an eight-nation international conference on cryptocurrencies. The nations participating are Turkey, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Russia, and Hong Kong. According to knowledged sources, Indonesia is hosting this conference with the aim of providing lawyers and enforcement agents with the knowledge needed to fight crypto-related crimes. Source: btcmanager.com.

BitPay will add support for Ripple (XRP) by the end of the year. Source: The Block.

Samsung-backed Blocko has launched in the UAE. In April 2018 the Dubai announced its Emirates Blockchain Strategy 2021, which aims to migrate 50% of its transactions to a blockchain platform. Blocko, in partnership with SEED Group, will be part of the effort to bring this plan to reality.  Source: coindesk.com.


Technical Analysis


 

Bitcoin

Bitcoin had modest advances during the last 24 hours. That said, the buying interest seems to be limited. Currently, the daily chart shows that the price has been encountering resistance in the 200-day MA (green). We see also that the volume is shrinking as the price advanced.

 

The 4H chart shows the price still moves in the upper side of the Bollinger band with the MACD in a bullish phase that gives a bit more weight to a short-term continuation to the upside. We see also that the 8,519 level is a fierce resistance level and that 8,200 has been holding the price lately. Therefore, these are the levels to watch. A Credible break of one od them will signal the future price direction.



Ethereum



Ethereum continues moving with a slight upward bias. The Bollinger mean line has been holding the price for some time. Currently, we see the price in the middle of the ascending channel, but what we see suggests the price is moving to retest the $185 resistance. A break below $177 will invalidate this scenario.


Ripple


Ripple still directionless after the large bullish candle. The price moves still in a band between 0.2468 and 0.257.  To be bullish, we need to see the price above the 0.253 level. A break of the 0.246 support will mean a possible visit to the 0.234 level and invalidate the bullish candlestick made on September 30.

 

 

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Oct 2 – Pullback Day or Dead Cat Bounce?

Yesterday, cryptocurrencies behaved as expected, retracing some of their Monday’s gains. Early morning losses continued. Bitcoin lost 2.47% over its 24-hour value. Most altcoins joined the movement such as Ethereum (4%), Ripple (-4.04%), Bitcoin Cash(-4.47%), EOS(-4.57%), Bitcoin SV(-6.15%)  and TRON (-5.61%).

The market cap descended to $218.5 billion, while the 24H volume was $26 billion, as seen in the figure below.

The current market dominance is as follows:

  • BTC:67.55%
  • ETH:8.62%
  • XRP:4.85%
  • BCH:1.82%
  • LTC:1.60%
  • EOS:1.24%
  • Others:15%

The Heat map here, shoes that, as usual, the whole sector moves with almost perfect correlation.

What happens

Ethereum-bases dApp FairWin has collapsed after the exposure of a vulnerability in its smart contract. Researches found the platform admins could drain the entire balance in the dApp easily, an $8 million worth of ETH stored in the platform. Researchers found $250,000 was stolen in a previous version. Source: Medium.com.

According to an article by condesk.com, major Libra backers Visa and Mastercard are re-thinking its participation in this digital project. Libra has been the trigger for regulators to start worrying for the irruption of digital assets and Libra has been opposed by European financial authorities saying Libra could destabilize the Euro, while the US Congress has demanded a complete halt on its development.

The Federal Reserve injects the USD worth the entire crypto market cap in days according to this article by beincrypto.com. The last one is said to add $162 billion to the total USD supply. US FED noted that it is a temporary measure.


Technical Analysis


Bitcoin


Bitcoin’s price has been losing ground after making a double top at $8,519. The MACD is dangerously approaching a bearish transition, while the price is currently sitting on the mean line of the Bollinger Band, at 8,200. That was our expectations yesterday. Thus, nothing to worry about unless weakness continues and the price keeps moving to the lower side of the Bollinger bands and challenge the $8,000 again.


Ethereum


Ethereum is moving in an ascending channel, a weak form of trending. Its price made a high at $185, then during the latest 4H candles has been retracing. At the moment of this writing, the price was held by the mid-line of the Bollinger Bands. MACD is also close to a bearish crossing. The figure created by the latest price action suggests the entire channel is a consolidation of the significant drop made on September 24. Short-term, if the price holds, we see a new test of the $185  high, although the price might go visiting the lower side of the channel.


Ripple



Ripple has retraced more than 50% of the large candlestick made on Sept. 30. Now the price is touching the upper border of the band where it had been ranging before that bullish candle. That may be a supply zone of people who wanted to go long that day but were late.  That means a bounce off of this level is likely. If that does not happen, then the bullish candle was just a trap for bulls, and the movement is negated.


Litecoin


Litecoin is starting to show signs of buying interest. The price has been held by the Bollinger mean line and now has headed up. MACD is bullish, also. The movement is still feeble, and $57 acts as a resistance level, so to confirm a bullish scenario we would like to ask for a close above that level.

 

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Update, Oct 01 – Reversal Day!

Yesterday was a reversal day. Bitcoin went down from $8,054 to touch $7,701 to swiftly reverse its path and close above $8,300. Other cryptocurrencies followed. The heatmap here testifies the 24H advances, with Bitcoin, BCH, BSF, ETH, and XRP  up more than 7% over its previous session. Market capitalization went up to $224.8 billion with a traded volume of $33.4 Billion.

Fig- 1 Market Cap and Traded Volume

Fig 2 –  24-hour Heat Map

 

The News Front

Industry giants Coinbase, Bitrex, Kraken, Anchorage, and others join to form the Crypto Rating Council to qualify on how likely a coin is likely to be regulatory compliant and characterize tokens into currency, commodity, security or something else. The notable exception is Binance, which seems it has been excluded. Source: beincrypto.com.

SEC announced it had settled an agreement with Block.one the company behind EOS to settle the charges for raising billions in an ICO, back in 2017.  Block.one agreed to pay a “civil penalty” of $24 million. Source trustnodes.com.

Cardano is partnering with New Balance shoemaker to authenticate the company’s premium line of sports shoes. Cardano can produce blockchain.based data that consumers and stores can trust. Source: dailyhodl.com.

Bitpay achieves Service Organization Control (SOC2) compliance. That certification means BitPay is certified for confidentiality, security, privacy, processing integrity, and availability.  Source: cointelegraph.com.

 


Technical Analysis


Bitcoin


After creating a double bottom, yesterday bitcoin made a reversal day. The price made a kind of harami in the 4H chart and continue moving up to cross the Bollinger line mean and then the +1SD line. By crossing that line and then moving near the +1SD line, we should assume a new upward trend is initiated. MACD also confirms the bullish phase of the bitcoin.

Right now the price has bounced off of the $8,524 level, which touches the 200-day moving average on the daily chart. That means it is a tough resistance level to cross. If crossed, the price will need to fight the 8.800 level with is June’s 02 topping area. Right now BTC may need to consolidate near the Bollinger Mean line before continuing with the trend.


Ethereum


Ethereum has confirmed its bullish leg up by making another higher high and higher low. MACD and Bollinger bands are in agreement, obviously since indicators lag the price action. Currently, the price was rejected by the $185 resistance and is retracing some of the recent advances, as the price is overextended. We estimate that the price will retrace near its $177 support and, then continue its way up.  A breach of the $177 level ( on a closing basis) would imply less buying strength than anticipated.


Ripple


Ripple has made a sharp impulsive candle on strong volume, yesterday, and since then is making corrective candlesticks near the top of that range, the price hold by the 200-period MA. That is fine since this candle created a price overextension that now is being corrected. The MACD and Bollinger Bands confirm XRP has started a bullish trend, so buy the dip is the motto here. The chart shows the current key levels for this asset.

 

 

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Update, Sept 30 – Bitcoin under $8,000 drives Crypto Assets Down!

Bitcoin breached the $8,000 early morning today, as the bearish sentiment keep persisting in the crypto sector. That lack of buyers is creating a pronounced bearish trend in the whole sector. This weekend, Bitcoin lost another 5% Bitcoin Cash(-5.55%), Binance Coin(-5.82%), Monero(-5.05%) and DASH(-6.2%) lead the loses.  The Market Capitalisation of the sector went further to $207.9 billion.

The heatmap below shows the price change of coins and tokens during the weekend.

The News Front

The Ukranian government is planning to legalize cryptocurrency. That is so according to a report published by an independent Ukranian news media. Currently, cryptocurrencies are not illegal in Ukraine. This step is a government move to regulate it and benefit via taxation. Source: The Block.

JP Morgan strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou claims Bakkt’s launch of a physically-settled Bitcoin Futures contract was the reason for the Bitcoin 20% drop. Source: dailyhodl.com.

Denis Baykov has been fined the value of $7,000 by Russian authorities after mining bitcoin using a supercomputer able to petaflop speeds from an old Russian nuclear facility in Sarov, western Russia. Source beincripto.com.

Google has created a 50qbit computer able to execute in minutes what would have taken 20,000 yeats using a regular computer. Besides that, quantum computing is not a threat to crypto-assets, according to a news piece by bitcoinnews.com.


Technical analysis

 

Bitcoin


Today, bitcoin definitively broke the $8,000 support level and confirmed, also, the breach of the 200-day MA. On the daily chart, we see also the price has also broken the lower trendline of the descending wedge to the downside.

The next level to break is the $7,700 and, next, we could observe if the supply zone below $7,725 is able to hold prices and stop the downward evolution of the price, to, at least, experience a bounce.

 


Ethereum


Ethereum’s bounce ended, although the price has not broken the $166 support. We see the price moving slightly below the -1 Bollinger line, which means a downward pressure to prices. That, combined with the bitcoin weakness, makes us think ETH will continue descending to test $160 at least. But we can’t be surprised if $152 is reached in the coming days.

 


Ripple


Ripple seems to keep holding inside the range between 0.234 and 0.2468, besides the persistent BTC weakness. Today the price is losing 1% while bitcoin is -3.55% down. That shows there is some hidden buying power holding its price. The current sideways channel and technical indicators still show the price is in a downtrend, though. That and another BTC downward spike may force this token to break its support. The best course of action is to be in the sidelines while this is resolved.

 

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

How to trade Bitcoin these Days?

  • Market Cap: $109,146,342,387
  • Total Supply: 21,000,000
  • Circulating Supply: 17,260,700
  • Daily Volume: $3,735,502,316

How to trade Bitcoin?

Trading Cryptocurrencies might be hard these days. Many people think that, because of the downtrend that we are in, they can not trade at all. However, there is great potential in this market. The trend direction does not matter, volatility is the thing traders should be concerned with. Cryptocurrency has a lot of volatility, which creates opportunity.



Where will BTC go and how do we determine that?

Bitcoin has three ways to go:

  • Up
  • Sideways
  • Down

Scenario 1

Bitcoin has the chance to move up, but the moves are small and negligible. The major trend is downwards, and we should not consider long positions until fundamentals change.

Scenario 2

Bitcoin trading sideways is easiest to trade. Volume will not change in size, confirmation oscillators should be ranging as well, and we can trade off of support and resistance lines and the divergences in RSI and CMF.

Scenario 3

Bitcoin is trading in a downwards fashion. We can spot the downwards moves by looking at CBOE and CME contract expiration dates, divergences accompanied with volume spikes, and sudden breaks of major support lines.

Final word

There is a big opportunity in catching the downtrend that is expected to happen before 20th of November. It will be indicated by BTC breaking 5750 barrier with great volume, which will trigger stop losses.

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Crypto Analysis -Negative Sentiment Persists

Daily Update and Analysis

Bitcoin

Fundamental analysis

Bitcoin has been in a rough situation lately. With Goldman Sachs announcing that they are uncertain about Crypto trading desk, Russia still not being ready to regulate Cryptos and news of mainly neutral or bearish sentiment, we can not expect the price to do the opposite either. On the non-news fundamental side, nothing has changed. However, this is not the only thing to look at. When looking at the sentiment, we are still bearish.

Technical analysis

With the resistance downtrending line moving sharply downwards, Bitcoin only has until 20th of November to make a decision. Everything is still inclined towards the downside, but some bullish news or a sudden spike in volume might change things up. However, that is highly unlikely at this point.

Ethereum

Fundamental analysis

Ethereum is going through a horrible period. Many news are reporting that Ethereum is a bad technology, and that it is highly overpriced. However, it is one of the rare Cryptocurrencies with real use case. Still, with no changed to its code, and bad news floating around (possible forks, negative analysis), we are still inclined to look at Ethereum from a bearish perspective, and would consider a short position in this Cryptocurrency.

Technical analysis

Ethereum has been in a sharp downtrend from the start of May. With only bearish fundamental news, and no changes in the general outlook on Ethereum, we expect more downwards moves. Volume has been steady, and ETH showed no will or courage to test the resistance line.

EOS

Fundamental analysis

EOS has been marketing the product as the Cryptocurrency to solve many modern world issues, such as environmental issues, world poverty etc. EOS has quite a good buzz around it in China as well as it has been pronounced as the highest rated Cryptocurrency based on idea, application, technology and innovation. However, the general market is still bearish so the rise in price did not happen as a result of the bullish news.

Technical analysis

EOS has shown some resilience, even in this market. With many Cryptocurrencies retesting their biggest support lines, EOS is ranging between 3 big support lines. However, it is not immune to the downtrend, and is highly correlated to the Bitcoin’s price.

Final word

The last week has been, apart from the slight downswing, pretty calm. Prices have not changed a lot, nor have fundamental news affected the price of Cryptocurrencies that deserved it (both upwards and downwards).

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily crypto update 08.08.2018 – Flash crash


General overview


  • Market Cap: $232,384,144,425
  • 24h Vol: $15,580,869,369
  • BTC Dominance: 48.5%

In the last 24 hours, cryptocurrency market cap evaluation fell from 257,284,000,000$ to 229,140,000,000$ at its lowest today which is a 28,144 billion dollar decrease which happened in about 12 hours in total. 

The market is currently in red, with an average percentage of change among top 100 coins ranging from 6-12%. Only Pundi X and Aurora are up by 2,9% and 2,3%.


News


Major headline that is the causing this flash crash as many news media outlets are reporting is that VanEck-SolidX Bitcoin ETF application was delayed for consideration for September by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

The Securities and Exchange Commission late Tuesday delayed a decision on an application for the first bitcoin-related exchange-traded-fund. The regulator said it planned on making a decision on the proposed ETF from VanEck and SolidX on Sept. 30. A decision was expected no earlier than Aug. 10, 45 days from the time the ETF duo submitted their application for the fund.

Source: market watch

“Accordingly, the Commission, pursuant to Section 19(b)(2) of the Act,6 designates September 30, 2018, as the date by which the Commission shall either approve or disapprove, or institute proceedings to determine whether to disapprove, the proposed rule change,” the SEC said.

Source: investing


Analysis


BTC/USD

From yesterday’s high at 7159$ the price of Bitcoin has fallen by 10,93% and is currently trading below 6500$.



The price fell steeply and quickly and is currently below the 0 Fibonacci retracement level which is the significant support level that was broken last time Bitcoins price was heading downwards and created a lower low. This indicates a very bearish sentiment and another lower low scenario.


Market sentiment 

Hourly chart technical indicators are signaling a sell.


Pivot points

S3 5902.6
S2 6375.6 
S1 6547.2 
P 6848.6 
R1 7020.2 
R2 7321.6 
R3 7794.6

ETH/USD

From yesterday’s high at 410$ the price of Ethereum has decreased by 10,44% and is currently trading at 367$.



Looking at the hourly chart, we can see that the bearish pennant was broken on the downside which propelled the price of Ethreum for a steep fall. The price is now looking for support and is currently sitting just slightly above the 0 Fibonacci retracement level which is the prior low level on the daily chart.


Market sentiment

Ethereum is in the sell zone.


Pivot points 

S3 300.06 
S2 342.79 
S1 360.30 
P 385.52 
R1 403.03 
R2 428.25 
R3 470.98

XRP/USD

From yesterday’s high at 0,4133$ the price of Ripple has fallen by 16,91% as its currently trading at 0,347$.



Looking at the hourly chart we can see that the triangle was broken from the downside and as the triangle’s support was also a significant horizontal support level the breakout resulted in a straightforward downfall. The price is currently looking for support and it found some support on the current levels but they are far from strong in order to hold the momentum behind the sell-off.


Market sentiment 

Hourly chart technical indicators are signaling a sell.


Pivot points

S3 0.26042 
S2 0.36093 
S1 0.39822 
P 0.46144 
R1 0.49873 
R2 0.56195 
R3 0.66246

Conclusion


It looks like the last straw that investors held on to in order not to fall into the abyss of the cryptomarket death was the Bitcoin ETF. The news has so hyped out that now after the SEC announced they are postponing the decision for late September that straw broke and the straight downfall started. I think that this is going to be the final sell-off but I don’t mean that it will be over soon. What I would expect from here on for the cryptomarket is another despair and pain period with no upside on the horizon.

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Today´s Crypto Events 08.08.2018

Here you can find all the news about the upcoming hard fork, releases, exchange listings, updates, conferences, new launches, etc. We gather the most relevant events and conferences for you to pick from.

 


Today´s Crypto Events 08.08.2018


 

  • Game.com (GTC) — Airdrop
  • Hshare (HSR) — Upgraded Mainnet Launch
  • AirSwap (AST) — Live Stream on Facebook
  • CoinFi (COFI) — Questions Submission for AMA
  • Mysterium (MYST) — Pre-Alpha Testing
  • Nebula AI (NBAI) — Bounty Campaign
  • ContentBox (BOX) — Bit-Z Exchange Listing
  • DAEX (DAX) — Bounty Campaign
  • Payfair (PFR) — CHAOEX Exchange Listing
  • Pundi X (NPXS) — Infrastructure Details Announcement
  • WeToken (WT) — Xiaomi Firmware Release
  • aXpire (AXP) — Upgrade to AXPR on KuCoin
  • Metaverse ETP (ETP) — Coinsuper Exchange Listing
  • True Chain TRUE True Chain (TRUE) — Coinlink Exchange Listing
  • Rate3 (RTE) — AMA with CEO
  • NAGA (NGC) — Q&A on YouTube
  • CanYaCoin (CAN) — AMA on Facebook
  • XYO Network (XYO) — AMA on Facebook
  • GoChain (GO) — AMA on YouTube
  • DeepBrain Chain (DBC) — AI Training Net Launch
Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Today´s Crypto Events 07.08.2018

Here you can find all the news about the upcoming hard fork, releases, exchange listings, updates, conferences, new launches, etc. We gather the most relevant events and conferences for you to pick from.

Today´s Crypto Events 07.08.2018


 

  • carVertical (CV) — Product Launch
  • Holo (HOT) — Meetup in Los Angeles
  • HYDRO Hydro (HYDRO) — Developer Meetup in New York
  • TenX (PAY) — Q&A on YouTube
  • Elastos (ELA) — Meetup in San Diego
  • Bezant (BZNT) — Bounty Campaign
  • Freyrchain (FREC) — CoinTong Exchange Listing
  • Chronologic (DAY) — LiveStream
  • Ethereum Classic (ETC) — Inbound Transfers Acceptance on Coinbase
  • Mass Vehicle Ledger (MVL) — CoinBene Exchange Listing
  • Particl (PART) — Announcement
  • PolicyPal Network (PAL) — Dobi Exchange Listing
Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily crypto update 07.08.2018


General overview


  • Market Cap: $255,560,502,695
  • 24h Vol: $12,415,147,987
  • BTC Dominance: 47.6%

In the last 24 hours cryptocurrency market capitalization has been stagnating around 255 billion dollar levels.

Consequently, the market is showing mixed colors with an average percentage of change ranging from 2-4%. The biggest gainers are Ethereum Classic who increased by 11% in the last 24 hours followed by Basic Attention Token who increased by 13%. The biggest loser is Mixin who decreased by 11,7%.


News


In the last 24 hours the most important headline that already impacted the price of a particular coin is that trading app Robinhood added support for Ethereum Classic (ETC) according to an official blog post.

“Starting today, you can invest in Ethereum Classic on Robinhood Crypto, commission-free,”

Ethereum Network Overloaded Again, Strong Suspicions of Spam

The Ethereum network is once again undergoing what looks like a spam attack. A single address is sending and receiving transactions, consuming 24.85% of the gas, based on data from the Ethereum gas station. This was the peak value in the early hours on Tuesday UTC, and later the transactions started to gradually decrease their gas use.

China: Trader Sues Exchange OKCoin for Failing to Release Bitcoin Cash

A Chinese Bitcoin (BTC) investor has sued local crypto exchange OKCoin for allegedly preventing him from getting Bitcoin Cash (BCH) after the BTC fork, local news agency Legal Weekly reports July 31. The case is reportedly the first legal action in China that involved last year’s fork of Bitcoin.

Goldman Sachs Mulls Crypto Funds Custody Service – Report

One of the major global banks, Goldman Sachs, is considering to launch custody service for digital coin-based funds, Bloomberg reported on Monday, quoting sources familiar with the bank’s new initiatives. The Sachs spokesman neither confirmed nor rejected the news, according to Bloomberg.

Source: cryptovest. com


Analysis


BTC/USD

From yesterday’s high at 7160$ the price of Bitcoin has fallen to the 6852$ which was today’s low so far but has recovered since to above 7000$.



Looking at the hourly chart we can see that this downtrend line is currently being broken which is a bullish sign but judging by the wicks on the hourly candles the price is experiencing selling pressure below the prior high which is a bearish sign.


Market sentiment 

Hourly chart technical indicators are signaling a buy.


Pivot points 

S3 6367.4 
S2 6674.0 
S1 6807.6 
P 6980.6 
R1 7114.2 
R2 7287.2 
R3 7593.8

ETH/USD

From yesterday’s high at 413$, the price of Ethreum has decreased to 402$ but has recovered since to 410$.



Looking at the hourly chart, we can see that the price action has formed a triangle and the price is currently interacting with its resistance line. The price is still below the uptrend semi-significant level but we will soon see the direction of a breakout.


Market sentiment 

Hourly chart technical indicators are signaling a buy with moving averages signaling a strong one.


Pivot points

S3 380.68 
S2 393.66 
S1 399.31 
P 406.64 
R1 412.29 
R2 419.62 
R3 432.60

LTC/USD

From yesterday’s high at 76,4$ the price of Litecoin has decreased by 1,3% and is currently sitting around 74,78$.



On the hourly chart we can see that like in the case of Bitcoin and Ethereum the price action is forming a triangle and the price is currently heading upward to its resistance levels, but unlike BTC and ETH it hasn’t reached it yet, but instead it’s starting to slow down as it is entering sellers territory.


Market sentiment 

Litecoin is in the buy zone.


Pivot points 

S3 65.431 
S2 69.838 
S1 71.702 
P 74.245
R1 76.109 
R2 78.652
R3 83.059

Conclusion


After the prices have fallen significantly in the last couple of day we are seeing now some recovery. How long this recovery will last it would depend on the momentum behind the move.

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Today´s Crypto Events 06.08.2018

Here you can find all the news about the upcoming hard fork, releases, exchange listings, updates, conferences, new launches, etc. We gather the most relevant events and conferences for you to pick from.

Today´s Crypto Events 06.08.2018


  • Holo (HOT) — AMA on YouTube
  • IXT (IXT) — Bitbns Exchange Listing
  • Komodo (KMD) — AMA on Reddit
  • Trade Token (TIO) — Q&A on Telegram
  • PolySwarm (NCT) — AMA on YouTube
  • Nullex (NLX) — Swap on Cryptopia
  • Waltonchain (WTC) — AMA on Telegram
  • Callisto Network (CLO) — AMA on Discord
  • Zilliqa (ZIL) — AMA with Community
  • KickCoin (KICK) — CoinBene Exchange Listing
Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Weekly crypto update 06.08.2018 – Lower lows ahead


General overview


  • Market Cap: $254,384,641,922
  • 24h Vol: $11,174,577,378
  • BTC Dominance: 47.4%

From last Monday on July 30. cryptocurrency market cap was around 297 billion dollars in the evaluation. Since then the evaluation has been in a constant decline and from where it’s been to the current levels its fallen by 43 billion dollars.

The market experienced some short-term recovery on 3. of August but the recovery was short lived as the market slumped down again afterward.


News


Some of the top headlines that have marked the prior week are the following:

New York Stock Exchange Operator Announces Digital Assets Platform, BTC Futures

Intercontinental Exchange, the operator of 23 global exchanges including the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), has announced plans to launch an “open and regulated” global digital asset ecosystem, as well as one-day physically delivered Bitcoin contracts pending CFTC review and approval. The company, called “Bakkt,” will work with enterprises including BCG, Microsoft, and Starbucks.

Bank Of Thailand Allows Banks To Set Up Crypto-Related Subsidiaries

The Bank of Thailand has announced that local banks can set up subsidiaries for dealing with cryptocurrencies, while maintaining that banks and other financial institutions are still banned from directly dealing with crypto. According to the regulatory announcement, Thai banks can now issue digital tokens, provide crypto brokerage services, run crypto-related businesses, and invest in cryptocurrencies through subsidiaries.

Australia Awards $1.7 Million Grant For Sustainable Sugar Blockchain Project

The Australian government has granted around $1.7 million in a grant to the Sustainable Sugar Project for using blockchain to track the provenance of sugar supplies to Australia. The initiative, known as the Smart Cane Base Management Practice, is part of the sugar industry push for more sustainability and traceability.


Analysis


BTC/USD

From last Monday’s opening at 8245$, the price of Bitcoin has fallen by 15,45% as its currently trading at 6968$.



Looking at the daily chart we can see that the price is again below the support baseline 2. As this level was broken again it has less significance but that means that is now strong support around those levels anymore. Currently, the price is looking for support and it found some temporary on the minor range support level, but judging by the momentum of the down move the price is heading further down.


Market sentiment

Daily chart technicals signal a sell.


Pivot points

S3 4649.4 
S2 6033.9 
S1 6523.6
P 7418.4 
R1 7908.1 
R2 8802.9 
R3 10187.4

ETH/USD

From last Monday till now the price of Ethereum has decreased by 13,24% from 467$ to 406$.



Looking at the daily chart we can see that the price is below the uptrend semi-significant level on the same level as the Z wave of the prior low. The price broke out from the ascending channel after a down move which is why the likelihood of the retest of the prior low on the C wave at 360$ is very high in the following week.


Market sentiment 

Daily chart technical indicators are signaling a sell.


Pivot points

S3 276.29 
S2 351.05 
S1 379.03 
P 425.81 
R1 453.79 
R2 500.57 
R3 575.33

XRP/USD

From Monday’s open at 0,445$ the price of Ripple has decreased by 5,87% and is currently trading at 0.428$.



Looking at the daily chart we can see that the last Monday’s open was on the 0 Fibonacci retracement level and from there it has fallen below it to the current range support line. As indicated by the price action this range is going to be broken from the downside.


Market sentiment 

Daily chart technicals are signaling a strong sell.


Pivot points 

S3 0.36357 
S2 0.40144 
S1 0.41552 
P 0.43931 
R1 0.45339 
R2 0.47718 
R3 0.51505

LTC/USD

From last Monday’s open the price of Litecoin has depreciated in value from 84,8$ to 73,872$ which is 12,56% decrease.



Looking at the daily chart we can see that the price of Litecoin has broken out from the ascending channel in which it was consolidating as has gone on to find support on the next horizontal level is found. I am expecting an interaction with the 71,3$ support level and if that level doesn’t hold then the price will head down to the downtrend triangle support line.


Market sentiment 

Litecoin is in the sell zone.


Pivot points

S3 50.034 
S2 63.454 
S1 68.228 
P 76.874 
R1 81.648 
R2 90.294 
R3 103.714

Conclusion


Because the prices have broken there key support levels on the daily chart, more downside is expecting in the following week and search for next support levels. I am expecting the price pattering to create lower lows which would in the case of Bitcoin be from 5500$.

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Today´s Crypto Events 03.08.2018

Here you can find all the news about the upcoming hard fork, releases, exchange listings, updates, conferences, new launches, etc. We gather the most relevant events and conferences for you to pick from.

Today´s Crypto Events 03.08.2018


  • FidentiaX (FDX) — T-Shirt Design Contest Submission Deadline
  • Cashaa (CAS) — Blockchain Summit in Mumbai
  • Qtum (QTUM) — DISCON 2018 in Boulder
  • Leviar (XLC) — Knowledge Base Portal Launch
  • eosDAC (EOSDAC) — Cryptagio Exchange Listing
  • Red Pulse (RPX) — PHOENIX Asia Tour in Hong Kong
  • Transcodium (TNS) — New Site Template Launch
  • NBAI Nebula AI (NBAI) — AMA Session
  • Bytom (BTM) — Bibox Exchange Listing
  • The Abyss (ABYSS) — ChinaJoy in Shanghai
  • Nucleus Vision (NCASH) — IBC in Hyderabad
  • Banca (BANCA) — Community Testing Application Deadline
  • Polymath (POLY) — AMA on Reddit
  • Ontology (ONT) — AMA on Telegram
  • Consensus (SEN) — Mainnet Relaunch
  • NEO (NEO) — AMA on Reddit
  • IoTeX (IOTX) — AMA on Reddit
  • IOTA (MIOTA) — Upbit Exchange Listing
  • APR Coin (APR) — New Website Launch
  • Loopring (LRC) — AMA on Reddit
Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily crypto update 02.08.2018


General overiview


  • Market Cap: $272,382,783,020
  • 24h Vol: $12,683,202,800
  • BTC Dominance: 48.3%

Cryptocurrency market cap has found some support around the 267B levels and is currently testing it, hovering around it. 

The market is consolidating which is the next logical step after the fall of approximately 31 billion dollars in the evaluation. The colors are mixed so we can see both red and green with a small average percentage of change among top 100 coins.


News


Coinbase Adds British Pound Support, Speeding Fiat Transfers for UK Clients

Leading US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase said it is adding British pounds (GBP) to its list of accepted fiat currencies as of Thursday, in a move that will allow faster fiat deposits and withdrawals for its UK-based clients.

Morgan Stanley Hires Crypto Expert From Rival as Crypto Race on Wall Street Intensifies

Morgan Stanley appointed Andrew Peel as head of digital asset markets. The update comes from his LinkedIn profile, where the new position is listed. He leaves Credit Suisse after twelve years with the bank, where his latest job was vice president of sales and trading innovation, although he spent the majority of his stay in the Delta One desk.

EU Advisory Body Claims that Blockchain Innovation is at Risk within the European Union

The European Commission’s blockchain advisory body has warned that the EU’s lack of legal and regulatory certainty can stop blockchain development and the Union’s leading role in innovation. On August 1, the European Blockchain Observatory and Forum published its first-ever report analyzing the blockchain industry in the Union and outlining several recommendations to the bloc.

Source: Coinvest


Analysis


BTC/USD

From yesterday’s open at 7732$ the price of Bitcoin has decreased by 1,46% and is currently trading at 7572$. The price went even lower to the 7440$ but has recovered since leaving a spike on the hourly chart.



Looking at the hourly chart, we can see that the yesterday’s open was on the 0,236 Fibonacci level and from there fell below the blue bold line which is the support from the triangle on the daily chart. From here I am expecting the price to go to the dotted black line which is the baseline support 2 line where it will look for support. Because that level wasn’t respected recently I would expect the price to rester there for a while before breaking it on the downside and continue in a downward trajectory.


Market sentiment

Hourly chart technicals signal a sell with moving averages signalling a strong one.


Pivot points

S3 6969.0 
S2 7284.9 
S1 7445.4 
P 7600.8 
R1 7761.3 
R2 7916.7 
R3 8232.6

ETH/USD

From yesterday’s open at 433$ the price of Ethereum has dropped by 5,2% and is currently trading around 410$.



Hourly chart looks bearish as the price fell below the minor support line and is currently interacting with the minor range support on the same levels as the wave Z was. It looks like the support will hold for now but I am expecting in to break anytime soon, as this level isn’t all that strong.


Market sentiment 

Hourly chart signals a sell.


Pivot points 

S3 362.74 
S2 392.20 
S1 406.12 
P 421.66 
R1 435.58 
R2 451.12 
R3 480.58

XRP/USD

From yesterday’s spike at 0,4633$ the price of Ripple has decreased by 6,81% and is currently trading at 0,432$.



Looking at the hourly chart, we can see that the price of Ripple is once again below the 0 Fibonacci retracement level and the ascending channels support line. Those two including the fast fall after the spike is a very bearish sign. From here I am expecting the price to go to the 0,41444$.


Market sentiment 

Ripple’s sentiment is bearish as hourly chart technical indicators are signalling a sell.


Pivot points

S3 0.37042 
S2 0.40775 
S1 0.42707 
P 0.44508 
R1 0.46440 
R2 0.48241 
R3 0.51974

Conclusion


More downside is expected for the cryptocurrency market as support levels have been broken. Maybe a small rebound could be seen but that would be short-lived.

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Today´s Crypto Events 02.08.2018

Here you can find all the news about the upcoming hard fork, releases, exchange listings, updates, conferences, new launches, etc. We gather the most relevant events and conferences for you to pick from.

Today´s Crypto Events 02.08.2018


  • PinkCoin (PINK) — Poloniex Exchange Delisting
  • FlorinCoin (FLO) — Poloniex Exchange Delisting
  • FoldingCoin (FLDC) — Poloniex Exchange Delisting
  • Vcash (XVC) — Poloniex Exchange Delisting
  • Bitcrystals (BCY) — Poloniex Exchange Delisting
  • Nexium (NXC) — Poloniex Exchange Delisting
  • Radium (RADS) — Poloniex Exchange Delisting
  • BlackCoin (BLK) — Poloniex Exchange Delisting
  • Riecoin (RIC) — Poloniex Exchange Delisting
  • Unify (UNIFY) — New Logo and Marketplace V2 Beta Release
  • Bigbom (BBO) — Form for AMA Opens
  • Cardano (ADA) — Roadmap Update
  • NEO (NEO) — AMA on Reddit
  • NEM (XEM) — Blockchain Summit in Melbourne
  • Hydro (HYDRO) — Fintech Week in New York
  • SophiaTX (SPHTX) — AMA with CEO
  • IOTA (MIOTA) — Meetup in New York
  • Qtum (QTUM) — Meetup in Berlin
Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Today´s Crypto Events 01.08.2018

Here you can find all the news about the upcoming hard fork, releases, exchange listings, updates, conferences, new launches, etc. We gather the most relevant events and conferences for you to pick from.

Today´s Crypto Events 01.08.2018


  • Graft (GRFT) — Supernode Alpha Release
  • Databits (DTB) — Augmentors Alpha Release
  • Pundi X (NPXS) — Meetup in Bogota
  • Steneum Coin (STN) — Referral Challenge Starts
  • Expanse (EXP) — Newsletter
  • TokenCard (TKN) — Q&A on Reddit
  • Golem (GNT) — AMA on Reddit
  • Asch (XAS) — Mainnet Upgrade
  • WaBi (WABI) — Q&A on Telegram
  • Odyssey (OCN) — Snapshot for Airdrop
  • Gifto (GTO) — AMA on Telegram
  • Veros (VRS) — Site Design Update
  • LoyalCoin (LYL) — Crypto Seminar
  • Titanium BAR (TBAR) — Private IaaS Beta Starts
  • Bitcoin Private (BTCP) — Community Update
  • Neblio (NEBL) — Hardfork for Testnet
  • Elastos (ELA) — Token Burning
  • Elastos (ELA) — Coin Release
  • PACcoin ($PAC) — PAClyfe Launch
  • TittieCoin (TTC) — Exrates Exchange Listing
  • Stratis (STRAT) — Breeze Privacy Protocol Mainnet Release
  • VeChain (VEN) — VTHO Airdrop to VET Holders on Binance
  • Ruff (RUFF) — Meetup in Seoul
Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Update 31.07.2018 – Breakout From The Downside As Expected


General overview


  • Market Cap: $278,463,268,852
  • 24h Vol: $15,188,740,539
  • BTC Dominance: 48.0%

From yesterday’s high at $299B the evaluation of the cryptocurrency market cap has fallen by 23 billion, as today’s low was around $276B. This was expected as a triangle pattern formed on the global chart.

Consequently, the market is currently in red with an average percentage of change among top 100 coins ranging from 3-7%.  The biggest loser is Pundi X with a decrease of 19%.


News


As the market experienced a decline in the evaluation, many headlines are analytical in nature. However, some significant headlines have come out in the last 24 hours.

Australian Government Awards Grant to Blockchain Project for Sustainable Sugar

The Australian government has granted A$2.25 million ($1.7 million) to the Sustainable Sugar Project, Foodnavigator-Asia reports July 30. The Sustainable Sugar Project, led by the Queensland Cane Growers Organization, will use blockchain technology to track the provenance of sugar supplies to Australia. The initiative known as the Smart Cane Best Management Practice (BMP) is part of a sugar industry push for better sustainability and traceability.

It isn’t the first time the Australian government has given a grant to a blockchain start-up. Power Ledger a blockchain based solar electricity solution received about 8 million dollar grant last year for further research and development.

Chamber of Digital Commerce Proposes Guidelines for ‘Responsible’ Crypto Market Growth

The Chamber of Digital Commerce Token Alliance has released a collaborative report of proposed guidelines for “responsible growth” of the cryptocurrency market, according to their July 30 press release. The document, entitled “Understanding Digital Tokens: Market Overviews & Guidelines for Policymakers & Practitioners,” is broken up into three sections: a regulatory overview of digital token markets in five countries, principles for those distributing digital tokens that are not intended to be securities, and economic coverage of the “global token landscape.”

It is an obvious attempt to provide the regulators more material on the cryptocurrency market as the SEC is more and more active in the regulation clamp down on the cryptocurrency space with little to no understanding of the underlying technology.

China: World’s Fourth Largest Bank by Assets Trials Blockchain Loans Backed by Land

The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), the world’s fourth-largest bank by assets, has issued its first loan on blockchain, local news outlet Financial News reported July 31. State-owned ABC, which counts itself among China’s “Big Four” lenders, revealed it had issued a loan worth around $300,000 backed by a piece of agricultural land in the Guizhou province.

This headline is significant as China’s stance toward cryptocurrency was negative in the past, but it looks like they are switching the tone as they are getting more and more informed of the benefits that adopting blockchain and cryptos are carrying.

Major Swiss Online Bank Posts Soaring Profits After Offering Clients Crypto Investing

Online banking service provider Swissquote has seen a 44 percent surge in profits in the first half of 2018, an uplift attributed to the “crypto boom” earlier this year, local news outlet Finews reports July 31. In July 2017, the Swiss-based online bank was credited by many with becoming “the first” European online bank to launch Bitcoin (BTC) trading accounts for its clients.

Nobel Prize Winning Economist Paul Krugman Expresses Skepticism About Crypto, Predicts Collapse

Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman has expressed his skepticism about the value of cryptocurrencies in a New York Times Opinion piece published July 31.

Source: cointelegraph


Analysis


BTC/USD

From yesterday’s open at 8265$ the price of Bitcoin has decreased by 6,21% and is currently trading at 7732$.


Looking at the two-hour chart, we can see that the price of Bitcoin has broken down the descending triangle and is currently sitting right on the 0,236 Fibonacci retracement level. This breakout to the downside of the triangle was expected and explained in yesterday’s report and because these current levels aren’t going to serve as strong support, so more downside is expected, maybe after some consolidation. If that happens and the price goes below the 0,236 Fibo level the next target would be the baseline support 2 (black dotted line) at around 7400$.


Market sentiment 

Bitcoins hourly chart technical indicators are signalling a strong sell.


Pivot points

S3 7233.1
S2 7673.6 
S1 7926.6 
P 8114.1 
R1 8367.1
R2 8554.7 
R3 8995.2

ETH/USD

From yesterday’s high at 456,9$ the price of Ethereum has dropped by 5,2% and is currently trading at 433$.


On the 2 hour chart, we can see that the breakout was real and that the price has recovered a bit to the channels support line retesting it for resistance. It looks like the price is getting rejected by those levels which is why I would expect more downfall for Ethereum in the upcoming period.


Market sentiment

Ethreum’s hourly chart technical indicator signal a sell.


Pivot points

S3 411.23 
S2 434.49 
S1 445.57 
P 457.75 
R1 468.83 
R2 481.01 
R3 504.27

XRP/USD

From yesterday’s at 0,45548$ the price of Ripple has decreased by 5,31% and is currently trading at 0,431$


Looking at the 2 hour chart we can see that the price has broken out off of the ascending channel in which it was consolidating which is why more downside is expected from here.


Market sentiment

Ripple’s hourly chart technical indicator signal a sell.


Pivot points

S3 0.40185 
S2 0.42371 
S1 0.43485 
P 0.44557 
R1 0.45671 
R2 0.46743 
R3 0.48929

Conclusion


In yesterday’s report I have discussed the possibility of a breakout from the downside for the major cryptos as well as the global chart market cap evaluation. As that happened yesterday, in the upcoming days more downside is expected for the crypto market.