Four Lies About The Bitcoin Circular Economy

A Bitcoin circular economy is a closed-loop system that designs out all of the corruption and headache of dealing with central bank-issued money. As savings technology is still the largely dominant story for Bitcoin, it’s helpful to take a closer look at a few lies about a topic that’s growing in popularity: the Bitcoin circular economy.

A Bitcoin circular economy requires ways to earn, save and spend bitcoin. Oftentimes, when anyone is making progress on talking about earning or spending bitcoin, discussions will get derailed by fabrications that we can clean up here today.

1. Number Go Down Is Better For Payments

This is a lie. Period. There is no way that anyone who cares about Bitcoin actually wants the number to go down. I understand a certain crowd of staunch privacy advocates will tweet “number go down” from time to time; I believe that is more to tamp down what they see as unbridled and uninformed optimism rather than an actual scan of their day-to-day lives and believing that number going down is good for their stack. 

I think that people who have already cut up their credit cards and left their banks are sometimes frustrated with what they interpret to be our casual usage of the word “revolution” in the West. I see their point, but nevertheless no one is rooting for number to go down.

2. Payments Cause The Number To Go Down Because Merchants Dump For Fiat

The whole “merchants dumping for fiat” thing has not played out in my personal experience of talking to business owners. No one talking about the Bitcoin circular economy is out there door knocking and trying to sign up merchants that are going to dump for fiat. Dumping is obviously antithetical to the entire point of creating the circle to begin with. 

What is actually happening is more and more people everyday are realizing that the tools are available to demand bitcoin for their services, and so we’re starting to see what happens when people do.

3. Spending Bitcoin Is Only For Unbanked Nomads

I’m sorry but my dinner bought with bitcoin from last Friday would like to beg to differ. I’m literally a privileged married person from Southern California with a bank account and a mortgage and I found a way to buy food directly from another human being (not through a gift card) using Bitcoin. To me, that’s really amazing and it’s helped me grow my perspective on what we’re all doing here. 

If you don’t want to touch your HODL stack, that’s totally understandable. Download the Strike app and get in the circular economy game without touching your stack.The Strike app is a fiat app that pays bitcoin invoices, so it also solves a lot of other complaints you get from HODLers about not wanting to spend bitcoin. If you’re a business demanding bitcoin for your goods and services, you definitely want to educate your customers on Strike, I’ve watched even the most ardent HODLers be amazed.

4. If You Like Bitcoin Payments, You Don’t Understand The Value Proposition Of Bitcoin

Seriously? This is probably the most annoying lie I hear about the Bitcoin circular economy. Bitcoin derives value from its hard money attributes and from people hoarding and saving it. This is exactly why Bitcoin payments are actually so exciting: Why would you not want your business to participate in commerce using the best money in the world? Saving bitcoin and also demanding people pay you in it in return for goods and services are complementary mindsets, they are not at odds.

The great news is that in spite of any and all misinformation and misunderstandings, the number will go up, the payments will go round and the middle men won’t be paid. Watch out for these Bitcoin circular economy lies and don’t fall for them.

This is a guest post by Brian Harrington. Opinions expressed are entirely his own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

The post Four Lies About The Bitcoin Circular Economy appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

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Hackers Congress Paralelní Polis Is Ready to Deliver Fifty-Eight Hours Of Freedom Content

To crypto anarchists, Bitcoin is seen as one of the most important tools to help promote self sovereignty and liberation. Yes, there’s fantastic technology involved and “number go up” is fantastic, but the freedom that Bitcoin gives HODLers is the primary benefit.

This weekend, the seventh annual Hackers Congress Paralelní Polis will be convening in Prague, along with a massive, 58-hour long live stream. We sent over a few questions to the conference’s team to help make the case for why this conference is important to Bitcoiners.

Responding to our questions was a team from the event including:

• Pavol Luptak, co-founder of Paralelní Polis, certified IT-professional and white-hat hacker


• Max Hillebrand, co-organizer of HCPP TV and the Sovereign Individual Workshops, contributor of many open-source projects, including Wasabi 


• Alena Vranova, curator of Sovereign Individual Workshops, co-founder of Satoshi Labs (which runs Trezor) and co-author of “The Little Bitcoin Book”

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Flip: What’s the mission of this conference and who should be attending?

Luptak: The annual Hackers Congress (HCPP) will take place on October 2 to 4 in the stunning venue of Paralelní Polis, Prague. Traditionally, it gathers freedom activists, technology geeks, artists and scientists. Every HCPP has a current topic — a provocative idea behind it. Continuing the trend of previous congresses in the series, which explored diverse topics such as the binding constraints of global political and economic systems, the manifesto of the 7th Hackers Congress (HCPP20) highlights “Digital Totality” as its main narrative and a current threat to humanity.

The event will focus on safeguarding privacy when drones, cameras, databases and hostile AI are more prevalent than ever before. This year’s event will focus on practical skills, with the overall goal of teaching participants to be more secure and private online. All ticket holders will benefit from rare networking opportunities with famous crypto anarchists, hackers, Austrian Economists, crypto evangelists and activists. 

Flip: What makes HCPP20 special compared to prior years?

Luptak: The key difference is the format. This year’s Hackers Congress is a hybrid (virtual/in-person) event. Viewers around the globe will be able to tune in to HCPP.TV, a public, online, free streaming channel,  which will include various interviews and fireside chats co-hosted by more than 30 of the leading Bitcoin podcasters and YouTubers. This streaming will not include the conference talks.

Ticket holders will have exclusive access to an online hosted version of the meatspace event and the workshops. Personal Sovereignty workshops will cover a range of topics, including the best apps to download to achieve personal sovereignty, how to ensure computer security and how to set up a censorship resistant chatroom. Workshops have been curated by Alena Vranova, co-founder of Satoshi Labs and author of “The Little Bitcoin Book,” and will be led by hand-picked experts such as open-source advocate Travin Keith; hacker and entrepreneur Juraj Bednár; crypto anarchist Kerominer; and certified IT security professionals and co-founders of Paralelní Polis, Pavol Lupták and  Mario Havel. 

The virtual aspect of HCPP will be hosted an all-in-one online conference platform that prioritizes participant engagement and networking.

This year, Hackers Congress Paralelní Polis will continue its annual tradition and distribute exclusive Commemorative Coins depicting famous freedom fighters. One hundred silver commemorative coins celebrating freedom fighter and American whistleblower Edward Snowden will be up for sale while one gold commemorative coin celebrating Aaron Swartz will be available to bid on. Half of the proceeds from the Gold Coin auction will be contributed equally between a non-profit educational program and Aaron Swartz’s mother.

Participants who attend the physical event in Prague will be among the first to view the hotly-anticipated documentary “LIBERTAS,” which will premiere during HCPP. An entirely crowdfunded film, “LIBERTAS” explores the world of crypto technologies in Slovakia and the Czech Republic and examines the potential advantages that they offer as an alternative to current financial and technological infrastructures. 

As with previous years, the lifetime ticket to the current and all future Hackers Congress Paralelní  Polis events will be sold for 1 bitcoin.

Flip: What are the difficulties in scheduling 58 hours of live stream content, in addition to in-person events? 

Hillebrand: First and foremost, 58 hours is a lot of time, and because it is non-stop, we will probably not get much sleep at all. This is why we got 30-plus experienced rockstar podcasters and journalists involved to help out with co-hosting the show. However, already to coordinate everyone to be part of a three-day and night event is tricky, especially considering different time zones.

Further, we have invited 100-plus guests to join the show, including speakers and contributors to Paralelní Polis, but also non-attending guests. Here again, scheduling all the time zones is a mess, especially considering that we want to find a good match of host and guest!

However, just before this amazing weekend starts, it seems that we have managed to curate a great selection of individuals to come on the show and talk about their view of the digital totality manifesting. 

Flip: How prevalent of a role does Bitcoin fit in the agenda of the event?

Hillebrand: To be clear, HCPP is not a Bitcoin conference. HCPP is literally a Hackers Congress, where the core themes are crypto anarchy, self-liberation strategies and cutting-edge new technologies.

However, Bitcoin is such a natural fit for the congress! Bitcoin is pure crypto anarchy, individual full nodes are the kings of their own rules. Bitcoin obviously is an incredibly successful freedom strategy that countless individuals apply today. And finally, Bitcoin is for sure a cutting-edge technology, with such a vast amount of ongoing research and development. Thus you will find many speakers and attendees of HCPP who are deep down the Bitcoin rabbit hole!

Vranova: Typically, the focus of the Hackers Congress is broader — our aim is to provide a set of insights and skills to help individuals achieve more personal sovereignty, privacy and security. Bitcoin topics will occupy one entire stage day with practical Bitcoin and Lightning Network related workshops. Since its inception in 2014, Paralelní Polis has been onboarding hundreds of new Bitcoiners every month — which is probably more than any other physical venue in the world. The Congress — especially in its hybrid onsite/online version — will hopefully teach Bitcoin skills to many more. 

Flip: How is bitcoin an important tool in the growing battle for sovereignty in the age of digital surveillance? 

Luptak: We always consider bitcoin and all other cryptocurrencies (especially truly anonymous ones) to be our most crucial liberation tool. For us crypto anarchists responsible for HCPP20, the goal was still freedom. We love crypto technologies, but they are just tools for our (crypto) liberation. It is also a reason why we refuse and boycott any activities disarming Bitcoin its liberation properties (e.g. KYC/AML), and promote any projects helping people to make mutually voluntary trades (e.g., decentralized markets like OpenBazaar, decentralized crypto exchanges like Bisq, etc.).

Flip: Can people check out conversations from previous events to get a taste of what they can expect for this year? 

Luptak: The HCPP.tv website is already filled with plenty of content from previous years.

The complete streams from Day 1, 2 and 3 of HCPP19 can be found on the Paralelní Polis YouTube. 

Flip: Is this Paralelní Polis’s primary way to fund the non-profit? How are the proceeds from the conference used? 

Luptak: We would like to have HCPP20 be a way to fund Paralelní Polis, but unfortunately in these difficult times, it is not possible. HCPP20 congress is a big professional event with a relatively big budget, so our goal now is to avoid a potential loss. Any extra proceeds from the conference will be used to help Paralelní Polis to survive in these difficult times. We are independent from government financing and your support strengthens this independence!

All the revenue from the Annual Hackers Congress Paralelní Polis, the biggest cypherpunk event in Europe, are invested into running a four-floor building with a bitcoin cafe, a co-working space, running crypto meetups and workshops to onboard newcomers, a fully equipped studio for streaming and a newly-opened hackerspace.

The post Hackers Congress Paralelní Polis Is Ready to Deliver Fifty-Eight Hours Of Freedom Content appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

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American Economist Stephen Roach: 'U.S. Dollar in the Early Stages of Sharp Decent'

American economist and former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, Stephen Roach said on Sunday that he believes the U.S. dollar will “crash faster and harder.” Roach said similar statements during an interview back in June, and his latest commentary stresses that people should “expect the dollar to plunge by as much as 35 percent next year.”

Stephen Roach is a well known American economist as he worked as chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and he also advised as the company’s chief economist as well. Roach currently serves as a senior fellow at Yale University and he’s been discussing the American economy regularly during the last few months. Last June, news.Bitcoin.com reported on Roach’s interview with CNBC when he explained a number of reasons as to why he predicts a “dollar crash.”

On Sunday, Roach published an editorial that bolsters his current opinion concerning a dollar crash and the economist emphasized that the USD has “entered the early stages of what looks to be a sharp descent.”

The economist noted that the U.S. dollar index has slumped by 4.3% after it benefited by 7% when there was a flight to cash in February. Despite what Roach calls a “modest correction” the former Morgan Stanley Asia chairman said, “the dollar remains the most overvalued major currency in the world.”

Roach expects the USD index to slide by as much as 35% in 2021 for a number of reasons.

“I continue to expect this broad dollar index to plunge by as much as 35 percent,” Roach says in a newly written editorial. “This reflects three considerations: the rapid deterioration in macroeconomic imbalances in the United States, the ascendancy of the euro and renminbi as alternatives, and the end of the aura of American exceptionalism that has given the dollar Teflon-like resilience for most of the post-World War II era,” he added.

Roach noted this past June in a prior opinion editorial that digital currencies like bitcoin and gold could possibly benefit from the massive dollar downturn. However, the two free-market assets may not see a significant boon from the major fiat adjustments, Roach highlighted at the time.

“Although cryptocurrencies and gold should benefit from dollar weakness, these markets are too small to absorb major adjustments in world foreign-exchange markets where daily turnover runs around $6.6 trillion,” Roach said.

The famed economist wrote on Sunday that it’s “no secret” what caused the unprecedented savings collapse in 2020. Moreover, the coronavirus outbreak “has been more than outweighed by a record expansion in the federal budget deficit.”

In Roach’s opinion, this is just the beginning of the USD’s deterioration, and “the savings plunge is only a hint of what lies ahead.”

“The vice is tightening on a still-overvalued dollar,” Roach concludes. “Domestic savings are plunging as never before, and the current-account balance is following suit. Don’t expect the Fed, focused more on supporting equity and bond markets than on leaning against inflation, to save the day. The dollar’s decline has only just begun.”

What do you think about Stephen Roach’s opinion about the dollar collapse? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

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35%, 35% plunge, Bitcoin, BTC, dollar crash, dollar crash 2020, dollar crash prediction, economics, gold, Stephen Roach, stephen roach morgan stanley, stephen roach yale, U.S. Dollar Descent, us dollar crash, USD Collapse

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Dorsey Implies Twitter Will Be Blockchain Controlled

Jack Dorsey is back in the news, and once again, he’s pushing the power of both bitcoin and the blockchain technology that supports it.

Jack Dorsey Is Still Pushing Bitcoin

As the CEO of Square and Twitter, Dorsey has always been there to push the bitcoin agenda he holds so dear. He has stated in the past that within the next ten years, he can easily see bitcoin becoming the world’s only currency. He has also stated that it’s the best internet currency, and that he would at some point travel to and live in Africa for three to six months so that he can properly bring the benefits of bitcoin to the continent’s many peoples.

In a recent interview, Dorsey went so far as to say that the future of his own company, the social media platform Twitter, relied primarily on bitcoin and blockchain. He explained:

Blockchain and bitcoin point to a future, and point to a world, where content exists forever, where it’s permanent, where it doesn’t go away, where it exists forever on every single node that’s connected to it. The whole spirit of bitcoin, for instance, is to provide a trusted system in a distrusted environment, which is the internet.

He further stated that his company is now working with a nonprofit firm known as Blue Sky that is recruiting several new team members – including engineers, architects and designers – to build a blockchain system unique to Twitter. Dorsey mentioned:

The goal is for Twitter to ultimately be a client of this standard. [Blue Sky] is a fully separate nonprofit from the company. We’ll focus on becoming a client of it so we can build a compelling service and business where anybody can access, and anyone can contribute. You see this most fundamentally in bitcoin and in blockchain. The keys will be more and more in the hands of the individual.

First thing’s first, however, and Twitter is now in the process of revamping its security protocols after a hack in July that saw many high-profile accounts – including those of former president Barack Obama, Microsoft mogul Bill Gates and current democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden – overtaken by a malicious actor who sought to garner illicit bitcoin funds.

The hacker sent out messages to these figures’ followers telling them to donate bitcoin to specific BTC addresses that were unknowingly owed by the cyberthief. It was believed that all donated funds would be doubled, but this wasn’t the case. Instead, the hacker simply sought to garner funds that weren’t his, and he made off with more than $120,000 in digital currency.

Trying to Improve Safety

Addressing the issue of security, Dorsey commented:

Security is not anything that can ever be perfected. It’s a constant race. The more we’re giving the individual the keys, the safer we’re going to be.

The post Dorsey Implies Twitter Will Be Blockchain Controlled appeared first on Live Bitcoin News.

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Bitcoin.com Exchange to List Aspire and Aspire Gas as Newest Digital Asset Creation Platform Comes to Market

Aspire (ASP) is the first digital asset creation platform to resist both mining exploits and 51 percent attacks common to proof-of-work blockchains. Its fees are a tiny fraction of creating assets on Ethereum or other platforms due to its innovative Aspire Gas (GASP) blockchain

Both tokens will be introduced with BTC and USDT trading pairs, with more pairs to follow in the short-term.

Bitcoin.com Exchange is thrilled to announce the upcoming listing of two new digital assets: Aspire (ASP) and Aspire Gas (GASP) on the 30th of September 2020 at 10:00 UTC. Both tokens were created by Aspire Technology, under the leadership of core developer Jim Blasko, a proof-of-work innovator since 2012.

What is Aspire Technology?

Aspire Technology is a leading developer of digital asset creation technologies. It was incubated by the bCommerce Labs accelerator fund and other angel investors. The Aspire platform, which consists of the Aspire (ASP) digital asset creation platform and Aspire Gas (GASP) blockchain, is the first digital asset creation platform to resist both mining exploits and 51 percent attacks that are common to proof-of-work blockchains.

The Aspire platform improves upon the standard Counterparty open-source code, but grafts in an automated checkpoint server to prevent 51 percent attacks that have caused many other blockchains to be attacked and lose funds. Aspire is also not subject to miner attacks. Many other platforms have suffered one of these two common exploits that Aspire is immune from.

Why should one choose ASP & GASP?

Aspire (ASP) improves on speed, cost, and security for creating both fungible and non-fungible (NFT) tokens. It allows professional developers and hobbyists alike to create extensive digital assets involving up to 92 billion tokens per asset, as well as unlimited sub-assets, with no programming experience required, for about a dollar per asset. Aspire Gas (GASP) powers Aspire transactions for thousandths of a penny per transaction.

Cost Effective Asset Transactions

Aspire uses very small fractions of GASP for all transactions of digital tokens/assets sent on the Aspire network. gAsp currently charges 1 satoshi per byte when creating a transaction. These low fees allow for thousands of transactions with a single GASP, thus creating an extremely cost-effective way for sending small or large amounts of assets/tokens. Aspire is far more affordable than Counterparty, Maidsafe, Omni, Ethereum, Ravencoin, NEO, or any other digital asset platform.

Speed

The gAsp core and its increased speed allows for secure confirmations that average about 2 minutes, which is 5x faster than Counterparty or Bitcoin. The gAsp’s core is built on PoW (Proof Of Work) via scrypt mining and is designed for processing all of Aspire’s transactions onto one secure blockchain. All transactions of digital assets created on Aspire will always confirm at least 4x faster than Bitcoin’s 10 minute block time.

Security

By implementing advanced checkpoints into gAsp’s core, Aspire assets will be free of double spending, 51% attacks, and hostile takeovers of the blockchain. This is a first in asset creation platforms and gives Aspire the ultimate protection from malicious attacks.

On Aspire, anyone can create assets at an extremely low price and in under two minutes. Currently the cost to do this is 10 Aspire coins (ASP), which are currently offered for free for a limited time through the Aspire bounty program. In addition, Aspire is 5x faster than Bitcoin. One Aspire Gas coin (GASP) allows more than 300,000 transactions of any asset created on Aspire.

Strong Endorsement

Danish Chaudhry, Head of Bitcoin.com Exchange, shared his views on the Aspire platform and what he’s looking forward to most in the relationship: “I’ve followed the team behind Aspire, and the platform upon launch for quite some time now. It is an incredible platform, not only because of its speed, but the core technology implemented. The focus and dedication given in this project is unparalleled, and their all-star team is by far one of the strongest in the industry. Excited to welcome ASP and GASP into our ranks.”

Jim Blasko, CEO and Co-Founder of Aspire, added: “We are very proud that Bitcoin.com will be the first exchange to take on trading pairs for GASP and ASP, the native cryptos of the Aspire platform. By working with Bitcoin.com, Aspire and its amazing asset creation tools now fall into the hands of millions of new users. Our goal was to make crypto asset creation better in every way possible for the user, and this partnership is another stepping stone in the natural organic growth of Aspire. Today’s milestone ensures that future assets created on Aspire can be supported via Bitcoin.com’s exchange.”

Michael Terpin, Co-Founder and Chairman of Aspire also added: “Ordinary consumers will drive the next massive wave of crypto adoption, just as they did in the second decade of the web. Aspire is poised to become the leading digital asset creation platform globally by combining ease of use with high speed and near-zero fees. We believe in the very near future, most people will have dozens of digital assets they interact with regularly.”

About Bitcoin.com Exchange

The mission of Bitcoin.com Exchange is to empower people from all over the world to trade cryptocurrencies with ease and confidence, from first-time traders to advanced trading professionals. With high liquidity, 24/7 multilingual support and dozens of trading pairs, complemented with a high level of security, we offer an attractive platform for trading any cryptocurrency. Within one year since launch, on average, our exchange has been visited by more than 500K active traders per month, and this number continues to grow as you read this sentence.

About Aspire Technology and the Aspire platform

Aspire Technology is a leading developer of digital asset creation technologies. It was incubated from the bCommerce Labs accelerator fund and other angel investors. The Aspire platform, which consists of the Aspire (ASP) digital asset creation platform and Aspire Gas (GASP) blockchain, is the first digital asset creation platform to resist both mining exploits and 51 percent attacks that are common to proof-of-work blockchains. For more information, contact info@aspirecrypto.com.

Bitcoin.com Exchange Contact: antonio@bitcoin.com

Aspire Contact: Transform Group, aspire@transformgroup.com

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This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release.

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ASP, Aspire, Aspire Gas, bCommerce Labs, Bitcoin, Bitcoin.com, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Digital Assets, Exchange, GASP, nft

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Bitcoin’s September To Remember Comes To A Close: Here’s What Is At Stake

Today is September 30, and while for most all it does is mark the last day of the month, for Bitcoin, it marks an incredibly critical monthly candle close.

The first-ever cryptocurrency is retesting an important resistance level turned support on monthly timeframes, and holding strong could be a confirmation of a breakout from the bear market. Here’s the exact price Bitcoin needs to close at tonight to make September a month to remember for a long time to come.

Bitcoin Monthly Close Is Coincidentally Critical Resistance Flipped Support Retest

In technical analysis, support and resistance are among the most important factors to pay attention to for volatile price action to occur. This is where rejections or rebounds take place, or if price gets through, an explosive outcome follows.

For example, when the cryptocurrency finally plowed through $10,000 it very quickly was trading at well over $12,000. There, Bitcoin price was rejected, forced to retest previous resistance as support before removing higher.

Related Reading | Bitcoin Faces Pivotal Quarterly Close, Here’s Why

It is not clear why markets work this way, but retests of resistance turned support are common. Failure for bears to push prices back below the former resistance level gives bulls confidence to send prices soaring higher.

Bitcoin’s monthly close is one of its most important retests of high timeframe resistance turned support in its short history. If the cryptocurrency can close above this key resistance level, there’s only one left before another crack at breaking $20,000 is next.

The price for Bitcoin bulls to beat tonight is clearly drawn at $10,750.

BTCUSD Monthly Resistance / Support Flip Retest | Source: TradingView

Why This September Monthly Close Is So Crucial For Crypto Uptrend Continuation

If for some reason Bitcoin loses $10,750 tonight, it isn’t all said and done for bulls. The cryptocurrency could very well continue to hold strong above another support level – “meme” downtrend resistance from all-time high.

Resistance and support can run diagonally, just as it does horizontally. It also exists at rounded numbers, like $10,000 and $20,000, or at in number strings such as $6,666.

BTCUSD Monthly Downtrend Meme Trend Line Retest | Source: TradingView

This diagonal resistance level also coincides with another important monthly resistance level, from the first phase of the bear market. This bearish block is at the top of a long-legged doji where the February 2018 V-shaped low took place.

Related Reading | Bitcoin Descending Triangle Hints At Third Downtrend Before Bear Market Finish

Bitcoin closed higher that month, but not again until 2019. Now, it’s back above it. The cryptocurrency is currently trading at roughly $10,750 as of right now, but if somehow the rug is pulled and the cryptocurrency drops to below $10,100, an evening star pattern will confirm.

BTCUSD Monthly Possible Evening Star If Close Below $10,100 | Source: TradingView

An evening star pattern is a bearish Japanese candlestick reversal pattern. A close like this tonight would indicate another fall into a downtrend, while a strong close above it could be confirmation of an uptrend.

However tonight’s close ends, it should be a September to remember.

Featured image from Deposit Photos, Charts from TradingView

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FLM and RFUEL Spot Trading Now Available on OKEx

The leading crypto exchange, OKEx has announced the listing of two more tokens on its spot trading platform. Users on the platform can now start trading and also withdraw Flamingo (FLM) and Rio Fuel (RFUEL) tokens, which were earlier part of the OKEx Jumpstart Mining program.

Apart from the listing, OKEx has also announced a two-day RFUEL Deposit and Trading Contest with a prize pool worth $100,000. Both RFUEL and FLM are leading projects in the DeFi sector aiming to overcome the limitations posed by conventional blockchain protocols to widespread adoption of decentralized financial solutions. Their respective missions are in-line with OKEx’s own – providing the unbanked with access to financial services using DeFi.

In a statement, CEO of OKEX Jay Hao said, “While DeFi is on everyone’s lips, OKEx does not pay lip service. The DeFi space needs solid infrastructure construction. Thus, we are happy to see more participants working hard and smart on DeFi applications. We are willing supporters of DeFi and have welcomed over 50 DeFi tokens to OKEx.” Further adding, “As an industry explorer, it’s our duty to support the development of DeFi and provide a broader stage for high-quality DeFi projects.”

Along with spot trading, OKEx has also launched FLM/USDT margin trading and savings feature along with USDT-margined Perpetual Swap for FLM. The feature went live on September 29, 2020, to be accessed over Web, App and API. As a part of the launch, OKEx is offering zero transaction fee FLMUSDT perpetual trading for both taker and maker for one month.

OKEx has published detailed information about FLMUSDT Perpetual Swap, Margin Borrowing Position Tiers and Business Rules for Savings at the following link – https://www.okex.com/support/hc/en-us/articles/360050289671

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New Bit Pay Report Shows Hope For Crypto Merchants

Forrester Consulting has completed a survey it’s entitling the “Total Economic Impact of Accepting Bitcoin Using Bit Pay.” As it turns out, it looks like businesses that accept crypto as a means of payment for goods and services are having an easier time attracting new customers.

Bit Pay Is Pushing Crypto Adoption Everywhere

The report suggests four primary findings following the study. The first shows that most people looking to pay with crypto will be new customers. The second is that people utilizing crypto for payments of both goods and services are likely to make much larger purchases than those that utilize credit cards or cash. Next, it’s that crypto is far less expensive than credit cards, and finally, fraud-related chargebacks are non-existent when it comes to using crypto.

The study was ordered by international bitcoin and crypto transaction firm Bit Pay as a means of better understanding the cost-saving benefits of both bitcoin and its altcoin cousins. The company’s CEO and co-founder Stephen Pair explained in a statement:

We believe the Forrester study confirms what we’ve known for some time now. Accepting bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies through Bit Pay saves merchants considerably on fees and unlocks a whole new customer base.

One of the big things about crypto as of late is that it appears to be doing a lot of good for people during the COVID spikes. The report explains that it has become much easier to pay with crypto for several reasons, a big one being that everyone is trying to save as much money as they can and that inflation is running rampant throughout the U.S. and other nations. The report explains:

Bit Pay allowed merchants to serve and support cryptocurrency adopters better and to provide all customers added options while shopping.

The document further notes that just over ten percent of the participants that were monitored and surveyed for the report used crypto for the first time during the pandemic. Both Forrester and Bit Pay will be hosting an online seminar for those eager to learn more about the report’s findings on October 15. Forrester conducts similar studies each year and has thus far served nearly 700,000 individual consumers and business firms across the globe.

Volatility Is an Issue

Founded in the year 2011, Bit Pay is a leading cryptocurrency firm that seeks to work with businesses everywhere and make it easier for them to accept digital currency payments. This is initially what bitcoin and its crypto cousins were designed for, though the road to mainstream acceptance has been difficult considering these currencies often come with massive volatility, and many businesses do not want to risk losing out on funds should prices suddenly go down overnight.

Bit Pay primarily focuses on companies in struggling areas where credit card acceptance is not always doable or practical.

The post New Bit Pay Report Shows Hope For Crypto Merchants appeared first on Live Bitcoin News.

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Cisco Issues Patches For 2 High-Severity IOS XR Flaws Under Active Attacks

Cisco yesterday released security patches for two high-severity vulnerabilities affecting its IOS XR software that were found exploited in the wild a month ago.

Tracked as CVE-2020-3566 and CVE-2020-3569, details for both zero-day unauthenticated DoS vulnerabilities were made public by Cisco late last month when the company found hackers actively exploiting Cisco IOS XR Software that is installed on a range of Cisco’s carrier-grade and data center routers.

Both DoS vulnerabilities resided in Cisco IOS XR Software’s Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol (DVMRP) feature and existed due to incorrect implementation of queue management for Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) packets on affected devices.

IGMP is a communication protocol typically used by hosts and adjacent routers to efficiently use resources for multicasting applications when supporting streaming content such as online video streaming and gaming.

“These vulnerabilities affect any Cisco device that is running any release of Cisco IOS XR Software if an active interface is configured under multicast routing and it is receiving DVMRP traffic,” Cisco said in an advisory.

“An administrator can determine whether multicast routing is enabled on a device by issuing the show igmp interface command.”

Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities could allow remote unauthenticated hackers to send specially crafted IGMP packets to affected devices to either immediately crash the IGMP process or exhaust process memory and eventually crash.

The memory consumption may negatively result in instability of other processes running on the device, including routing protocols for both internal and external networks.

The vulnerabilities affect all Cisco devices running any release of Cisco IOS XR Software if an active interface is configured under multicast routing, and it is receiving DVMRP traffic.

At the time Cisco initially made these vulnerabilities public, the company provided some mitigation to resolve the issues and block the active exploitation attempts, but now it has finally released Software Maintenance Upgrades (SMUs) to address the vulnerabilities completely.

“Although there are no workarounds for these vulnerabilities, there are multiple mitigations available to customers depending on their needs,” the company said.

“When considering mitigations, it should be understood that for the memory exhaustion case, the rate limiter and the access control methods are effective. For the immediate IGMP process crash case, only the access control method is effective.”

Cisco customers are highly recommended to make sure they are running the latest Cisco IOS XR Software release earlier than 6.6.3 and Cisco IOS XR Software release 6.6.3 and later.

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This Pattern Suggests Bitcoin’s Price is About to “Blast Off” to New Local Highs

Bitcoin and the entire crypto market have witnessed dwindling volatility throughout the past few days and weeks, with both buyers and sellers being unable to gain control of the crypto’s near-term outlook.

The benchmark cryptocurrency has been caught within a bout of sideways trading throughout the past few weeks, with buyers establishing support at $10,200 while sellers continue guarding the region between $11,000 and $11,200.

The lack of momentum caused by the buying and selling pressure at these levels has led to the formation of an even tighter trading range, which exists between $10,600 and $10,800.

It currently remains unclear as to what could catalyze enough volatility for Bitcoin to smash through any of these levels in the days and weeks ahead.

One analyst is pointing to a historical pattern as one factor that is bullish for BTC.

He notes that the ongoing bout of sideways trading is occurring just below a key resistance level.

Typically, this is a bullish sign that indicates bulls are laying the groundwork for the cryptocurrency to make an explosive move higher.

Bitcoin’s Volatility Dives as Trading Range Persists 

It has been a rough past month for Bitcoin.

After peaking at highs of $12,400 in late-August alongside the rest of the crypto market, its price had been caught within a firm downtrend that ultimately led it to lows of $9,900.

The support here was significant and catalyzed a strong rebound to highs of $11,200. Since being rejected here, the cryptocurrency has been seeing range-bound trading ever since.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading down just under 1% at its current price of $10,730. This is around where it has been consolidating throughout the past few days.

Analyst: This Historical Trend is Boding Well for BTC

While speaking about the cryptocurrency’s near-term outlook, one analyst explained that consolidation beneath resistance is typically bullish.

He notes that unlike Bitcoin’s past bout of consolidation – which took place just above its $11,000 support level – this ongoing consolidation is occurring below this level, which has since flipped into resistance.

As such, he believes that this could mean that the crypto is about to “blast away.”

“Quick tip. When BTC consolidates just above support and keeps hugging it, it’s almost always a bull trap. Especially when the consolidation slopes downward. When bitcoin breaks out, it usually blasts away and doesn’t give anyone a chance to get in.”

Image Courtesy of Byzantine General. Chart via TradingView.

How the entire market trends in the days should depend solely on Bitcoin.

Featured image from Unplash.
Charts from TradingView.

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Canadian Firm 3iQ's Bitcoin Fund Listed on Gibraltar Stock Exchange

The Gibraltar Stock Exchange said Tuesday that it listed a new bitcoin fund belonging to 3iQ Corp, a Canadian investment fund manager that focuses on new technologies and crypto assets.

The announcement follows GSX Group’s recent launch of what it calls the Grid, “a venue to create and deploy debt securities, funds, and equities as ‘smart securities’ in tokenised form”. GSX is the parent company of the Gibraltar Stock Exchange.

According to the exchange, the newly listed fund tracks the price of bitcoin by using a special index feed, which was developed by crypto market data provider Cryptocompare and Vaneck Europe, an asset management firm.

3iQ’s regulated BTC fund is already being traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange since April, but this is the first time it will be entering European shores. The exchange-traded fund aims to provide retail investors with “access to bitcoin without the burden of buying and safekeeping coins,” said the company in a statement shared with news.Bitcoin.com.

U.S. crypto exchange Gemini is providing custody to the bitcoin held in the fund. 3iQ already manages two private investment funds: 3iQ bitcoin trust and the 3iQ global crypto asset fund.

Nick Cowan, chief executive officer of the Gibraltar Stock Exchange, noted that the listing of “innovative asset classes” such as the bitcoin ETF will “in turn lead to increased adoption”.

Fred Pye, president, and CEO of 3iQ said the Gibraltar listing gives financial players such as sovereign wealth funds and pension funds, which face restrictions in buying licensed, regulated exchange-listed products, access to those instruments. He added:

Being listed on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange extends the reach of the bitcoin fund within the burgeoning European digital assets market.

Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory on Spain’s south coast, has emerged as one of the most crypto-friendly countries in the world, with notable global platforms such as Etoro, Huobi, Xapo, and Bitso operating from there.

Two weeks ago, the country’s Financial Services Commission updated its guidance notes for distributed ledger technology providers to include recommendations for risk management, as well as clarify aspects around the issuance of digital assets.

What do you think about the 3iQ bitcoin fund being listed in Europe? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Tags in this story

3iQ, bitcoin etf, Bitso, Canada, Cryptocompare, eToro, Gibraltar Financial Services Commission, Gibraltar Stock Exchange, GSX Group, Huobi, Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), Vaneck Europe, Xapo

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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BuySellVouchers Indirectly Gives the Opportunity To Shop in the Popular Retail Chains With Bitcoin

It is looking like good times in the retail industry as BuySellVouchers gives a solution that allows users of the platform to shop in the most popular retail chains with cryptocurrency. The innovative solution from one of the leading online marketplaces for digital goods allows shoppers to purchase gift cards of major retail shops using different digital currencies.

The emergence of digital currency has practically disrupted the financial system, with its unique features and benefits endearing it to millions of people across the globe. While the retail industry has evolved over the years to embrace innovations that provide customers with the best possible shopping experience, many large retail chains seem to be taking too much time in adopting the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. Consequently, crypto enthusiasts and users of different digital currencies are underserved, which is where BuySellVouchers is looking to make a difference offering digital currencies as payment option.

BuySellVouchers is providing an opportunity for shoppers to buy gift cards with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from major retail outlets such as eBay, Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Ikea, Target, App Store, Google Play, Starbucks, Uber, Microsoft Windows, Netflix, Ikea, Airbnb, Spotify, and Sephora. The gift cards and vouchers e-marketplace allows users to purchase gift cards of these major retailers using their desired cryptocurrency. It shall be noted that the BuySellVouchers e-marketplace not only makes it possible to buy digital goods but also enables to cash out gift cards for cryptocurrency.

The cryptocurrencies currently supported on the platform include AdvCash, Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Tether ERC20 (USDT), Perfect Money, WebMoney, and TokenBS USD. BuySellVouchers has also announced plans to add more digital currencies to cater to the diverse needs of shoppers across the globe.

The recent move by BuySellVouchers is in line with the platform’s goal of bringing the best possible shopping experience to customers. The online marketplace for gift cards and vouchers has become increasingly popular since it was created in 2012, bringing together the buyers and sellers of digital goods. The user-friendly platform allows buyers to enjoy the use of discounted gift cards while sellers can sell gift cards for cash with no commission.

The major advantage of BuySellVouchers, which has stood it out over the years, is the amazing discount opportunity that buyers of gift cards get when buying goods in their favourite store, with most gift cards and vouchers sold for prices lower than their value. BuySellVouchers e-market remains the ideal platform for persons interested in the best gift cards deals 24/7.

For more information about BuySellVouchers, please visit – https://www.buysellvouchers.com/. BuySellVouchers can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. And Youtube.

About BuySellVouchers

BuySellVouchers is an online trading platform for buying and selling different kinds of vouchers, gift cards, and coupons while ensuring the safety of traders with top-notch security measures in place. The e-marketplace features a lot of official distributors of various digital goods to meet the needs of shoppers.

###

Press Contact Email Address:
partners@buysellvouchers.com

Website:
https://www.buysellvouchers.com/

---

This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release.

Tags in this story

AdvCash, airbnb, Amazon, App Store, Best Buy, Bitcoin, Buy gift cards, BuySellVouchers, Cryptocurrency, eBay, Ethereum, Gift Cards, Google Play, Ikea, litecoin, Microsoft Windows, Netflix, Perfect Money, Sell gift cards, Sephora, Spotify, Starbucks, Target, Tether ERC20 (USDT), TokenBS USD, Uber, Walmart, WebMoney

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

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VeChain Wants Developers to Migrate NFT Projects to VeChainThor

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are vying for a bigger slice of the crypto pie. In recognition of this, the VeChain Foundation promotes its platform as the best place for developers to build their NFT projects.

They claim VeChain was one of the original pioneers of NFTs. What’s more, purpose-built NFT toolsets and grants are available for those interested in porting over.

“Our blockchain offers a secure, high-speed, and stable protocol coupled with features to remove the complexities of blockchain and comprehensive support to applications with real value. Foundation Grants are also available for the migration of NFT Projects to our platform.”

NFTs can be thought of as digital collectibles. They are similar to cryptocurrency, in that they exist on a blockchain and have a monetary value.

But what differentiates them is a layer of characteristics that make them unique. For example, in the associated metadata, visually, serial numbers, and so on. All of this impacts the value of the NFT with what collectors deem valuable/wanted.

“NFTs therefore create exciting monetization opportunities for brands and collectors, as they are provably authentic, safe to trade, and can include all different types of artwork and branding opportunities.”

Non-Fungible Tokens Are Still a Niche Offering

Recently, there has been much talk of NFTs being the next big thing in blockchain.

However, some would argue they are too niche to make any sort of meaningful impact. Also, the investment potential of NFTs continues to divide opinion.

Data from nonfungible.com shows a marked uptick in total USD sales of NFTs lately. On September 27, 2020, NFTs to the value of $541k were sold. This is a year-to-date high, beating the previous high of $512k set on March 31, 2020.

Source: nonfungible.com

Considering Bitcoin’s 24-hour volume was $52 billion, NFTs, even on a good day, represent a fraction of the cryptocurrency market.

But, are things about to change?

How Can VeChain Help?

VeChain CEO Sunny Liu certainly thinks so. What’s more, Liu is pushing hard to attract more NFT projects to his platform.

“We are about to witness a plethora of new NFTs assets being minted and flooding into this marketplace. VeChain’s pioneering technology is currently the most advanced technology and provides the best features for business-oriented scenarios.”

With that, the VeChain Foundation boasts of having a dedicated NFT standard (VIP180). They claim that it significantly enhances the user experience and offers developers a secure and audited code to work with.

John Dempsey, Co-Founder, and CEO of VIMworld, who ported over to the VeChainThor blockchain, spoke of the massive cost savings made.

“Currently, we have more than 12,000 Smart NFTs distributed to our users with much more planned. If we were to run our business on Ethereum, we would have to pay more than $400,000 in gas fees alone for these transfers, and up to millions more for other operations.”

And with grants of up to $30k on offer, VTHO subsidies, as well as bug bounty programs, it’s clear that VeChain is pushing hard on NFTs.

VET daily chart YTD with volume. (Source: tradingview.com)

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RSK Parent Company IOV Labs Launches Enterprise Blockchain Solution

IOV Labs, the company behind Bitcoin-powered smart contract platform RSK and RIF, has announced a new ecosystem pitched at enterprises and governments. Extrimian, a joint venture with enterprise software firm Grupo Sabra, has set itself the goal of enabling businesses and government agencies to interact with the blockchain and thereby promote wider adoption.

It’s the latest shot across the bows by IOV Labs, who is building out a comprehensive technology stack to rival enterprise giants like Hyperledger, Corda and Quorum.

“Extrimian gives businesses exposure to the benefits of blockchain technology without the complexity,” said Diego Gutiérrez Zaldívar, CEO and co-founder IOV Labs. “It enables them to go to market quickly with a native application while tapping into the many benefits that DLT has to offer.”

A Fruitful Partnership

Extrimian’s solution, an ecosystem known as RSK Enterprise Cloud, will enable clients to build value networks by creating their own decentralized applications (dApps). It’ll also allow them to configure a technological stack needed to connect their enterprise to decentralized networks and to easily deploy consortium networks.

Grupo Sabra, for its part, brings a wealth of expertise to the table: the Argentine firm has been integrating traditional technology components with blockchain platforms since 2009, working with clients such as Gasnor, Microsoft and LG.

IOV Labs and Grupo Sabra have had a fruitful partnership to date. Prior to creating Extrimian, the companies launched a Gasnet blockchain network for Argentina’s natural gas distribution system. They also collaborated on a blockchain-based interbank messaging system for clients such as Argentina’s Central Bank and the stock exchange BYMA, and developed a ‘green’ ride-sharing program in tandem with the California Energy Commission.

The latter venture, EVShare, relies upon the RSK blockchain to achieve renewable energy targets in disadvantaged areas of Los Angeles, California. The project received $9 million worth of funding from the California Energy Commission, with the RSK blockchain facilitating trading of carbon credits and tokens dispensed as rewards to citizens who reduce their carbon footprint.

Entering the BaaS Business

With a multi-cloud blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) ecosystem now part of IOV Labs’ expanding empire, the company aims to become a driving force in the enterprise blockchain sector. According to Grupo Sabra Co-founder Guillermo Villanueva, who will serve as Extrimian CEO, the RSK Enterprise Cloud has been six years in the making. “It’s a platform created by developers, for developers,” he said.

The enterprise blockchain sector is a mix of established players and emerging startups like Concordium, a privacy-centric venture that uses identity proofs as an integral part of its protocol. Protokol is another new player on the block that promises to empower enterprises via custom blockchain solutions that streamline operations and reduce complexity.

According to a Fortune Business Insights report published earlier this year, the enterprise blockchain market will hit $21.07 billion within the next five years, up from just $1.64B three years ago. More global businesses are enticed by the possibilities offered by blockchain technology, and though the likes of IBM have the capital to create their own dedicated blockchain products, others need a helping hand. IOV Labs will be utilizing all its expertise and experience as it seeks to capture a share of the enterprise blockchain market in the years to come.

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ATOM Enters “Trouble Area” as Price Rallies Another 9%; Pain Ahead?

ATOM was among the biggest gainers on cryptocurrency boards this Wednesday as traders assessed its integration into the US-regulated crypto exchange Coinbase.

The Cosmos’ native token rallied 9 percent on a 24-hour adjusted timeframe, touching an intraday high level near $5.56, hours after Coinbase added support for staking ATOM rewards. Its gains appeared even as other top crypto assets showed signs of a downside correction.

“Starting today, eligible customers can easily start earning 5% APY on their Cosmos (ATOM) held on Coinbase,” the exchange announced. “Customers can securely keep their assets on Coinbase and instantly trade or withdraw their holdings and rewards when they want.”

An Ethereum-rival, Cosmos is a proof-of-stake blockchain that allows users to stake ATOM tokens to secure the network. In return, the stakers receive the so-called block rewards – again, derived in ATOM, by as much as 20 percent per annum.

Since its launch, the Cosmos core economic model has helped ATOM log a year-on-year gain of 150 percent.

Trouble Area

The latest ATOM rally came as a part of an extended pullback that followed a 57.26 percent price crash. Technically, the ATOMUSD exchange rate bounced off a medium-term ascending trendline that served as its support, forming higher highs on a three-day timeframe.

Cosmos is attempting to close above $5.46-resistance. Source: TradingView.com

Cosmos is attempting to close above $5.46-resistance. Source: TradingView.com

In his earlier analysis, stock analyst Michaël van de Poppe called the $5.15-5.40 range a “troubled area.” That reflected the daytrader’s fears of a downside correction once ATOM closes above $5.15. Nevertheless, the token’s minor breakout above the said area raised its possibilities of testing $6.51 as its next upside target.

Noah Seidman, another market analyst, explained the bullish bias with a customized chart as shown below.

Cosmos bullish setup. Source: TradingView.com

Cosmos bullish setup. Source: TradingView.com

“ATOM is sitting comfortably above its long term trend resistance-flipped-support,” he said. “Now above the 200EMA on the daily, clearly the bullish deviation helped pull up the long term average above the green trend line.”

ATOM Pullback Scenario

In a downside setup, ATOM/USD could correct lower based on profit-taking sentiment led by elsewhere losses. Macro-wise, the crypto market is still waiting for Bitcoin to break above its resistance levels above $11,000. But a long-delayed stimulus bill, coupled with US presidential election uncertainty, is keeping the benchmark cryptocurrency cautious.

Should a correction occur in the Bitcoin market, it could lead the altcoins lower as well. The setback would ensure that ATOM attempts to break below the Ascending Trendline. If that happens, then the Cosmos token could fall to as low as $2.57.

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Brave Developer: Growing Privacy Concerns is Why BAT Will Succeed

Technical Operations Coordinator at Brave, Chris Nguyen, hosted a Reddit AMA in which he answered questions from the community.

Although he stated that he was happy to discuss all topics, including details of his personal life, the most upvoted questions were about the future direction of Brave.

For example, one user asked Nguyen to explain THEMIS in simple terms. Nguyen responded by saying THEMIS is a proposal to decentralize Brave. But it’s still at the research stage of development, and so won’t be coming anytime soon.

“THEMIS is a way of moving the ad system on-chain in order to decentralize it. Part of THEMIS involved a discussion of side-chains, and staking was introduced in that context.”

Similarly, another user asked about the prospects of Brave being a commercial success. In response, Nguyen said the concept of a privacy-based browser strikes a chord with the dominant spirit of these times. As such, everything is aligned for Brave to succeed.

Brave Browser Stats Show Steady Growth

Analysis of metrics, such as publishers onboarded and the number of BAT addresses, all show consistent growth.

What’s more, this pattern repeats with the leading metric – the number of active users. The latest information shows that the number of active monthly users hit 15.4 million in May 2020, which is up 50% over the previous seven months.

“Brave saw its monthly active users pass the 15 million mark with 15.4 million users, a growth of 50% since the Brave 1.0 launch this past November, and of 125% or 2.25x over the past year. Daily active users also went up significantly, with 5.3 million users browsing with Brave on a daily basis, up from 2 million one year ago.”

Active monthly users on Brave for the 8 months to May 2020. (Source: brave.com)

Internet Users Are Wising Up

Taking these stats into consideration, it hard to argue against Nguyen’s points. At face value, it seems as though internet users increasingly see privacy as important.

What’s more, as Nguyen points out, this attitudinal shift is a relatively recent phenomenon. He refers to a growing realization that the internet is not private, and how, in response, users are fighting to reclaim their privacy. This is especially so within the context of growing distrust of governments and oligarchical private companies.

“Privacy is the new hot topic. Regular people are starting to care about privacy (see the Social Dilemma movie, for example), and governments are too. The social, political and regulatory environment looks great for BAT and Brave. Indeed, not even 10 years ago, caring about privacy was only for those who wore tinfoil hats, and would occasionally get you laughed at at family BBQs!”

With that, Nguyen believes that Brave is poised to reap the benefits of this “awakening”. For that reason, he feels both Brave and BAT have a bright future ahead.

The price of BAT today is up just under 1% to $0.2393. The last seven days have seen BAT rally 5% from a four-month low of $0.2121.

BAT daily chart YTD with volume. (Source: tradingview.com)

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JPMorgan Admits Fraud, Agrees to Billion Dollar Settlement for Illegal Trading

JPMorgan Chase has admitted to fraud charges and agreed to settle with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm has agreed to pay nearly a billion dollars in penalties and victim compensation.

JPMorgan’s Fraud Cases

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced separate actions against New York-based global banking and financial services firm JPMorgan Chase & Co. and several of its subsidiaries on Tuesday. According to the agencies, JPMorgan has admitted to fraud charges and agreed on settlements to resolve criminal charges against it.

The Justice Department explained that the criminal charges against JPMorgan Chase relate to two distinct schemes to defraud. “The first involving tens of thousands of episodes of unlawful trading in the markets for precious metals futures contracts, and the second involving thousands of episodes of unlawful trading in the markets for U.S. Treasury,” the DOJ announcement details.

The CFTC independently issued an order charging and settling with JPMorgan Chase & Co. and its subsidiaries, JPMorgan Chase Bank and J.P. Morgan Securities “for manipulative and deceptive conduct and spoofing that spanned at least eight years and involved hundreds of thousands of spoof orders in precious metals and U.S. Treasury futures contracts on the Commodity Exchange, Inc., the New York Mercantile Exchange, and the Chicago Board of Trade.” The CFTC detailed:

JPM is required to pay a total of $920.2 million — the largest amount of monetary relief ever imposed by the CFTC.

This total amount includes the highest restitution, disgorgement, and civil monetary penalty amounts in any spoofing case, the agency added.

“For nearly a decade, a significant number of JP Morgan traders and sales personnel openly disregarded U.S. laws that serve to protect against illegal activity in the marketplace,” Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. of the FBI’s New York Field Office commented. “JP Morgan Chase and Co. agreed to pay nearly one billion dollars in penalties and victim compensation.”

In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued an order charging J.P. Morgan Securities “for fraudulently engaging in manipulative trading of U.S. Treasury securities.” According to the SEC:

J.P. Morgan Securities admitted the findings in the SEC’s order, and agreed to pay disgorgement of $10 million and a civil penalty of $25 million to settle the action.

What do you think about JPMorgan’s fraudulent activities? Let us know in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Analysts Explain Why UniSwap (UNI) Could Surge Higher Entering Q4

UNI is among those decentralized finance tokens that debuted with a bang but slowly rolled over to the bearish side on higher profit-taking sentiment.

The UniSwap exchange’s governance cryptocurrency plunged by another 5 percent on Wednesday, hitting an intraday low of $4 as of 0900 UTC. The latest sell-off came as a part of a broader correction trend that followed UNI’s 5,524 percent price rally to an all-time high at $8.59.

UNI/USD is consolidating sideways following its 50% correction. Source: TradingView.com

UNI/USD is consolidating sideways following its 50% correction. Source: TradingView.com

TVL

Simultaneously, the total value locked inside the UniSwap pool kept on increasing to new highs. According to data fetched by DeFi Pulse, the TVL surged to $2.12 billion on Wednesday, its highest to date, showing that more people are locking funds in the UniSwap pool.

The decentralized exchange has committed to rewarding its liquidity providers and users with UNI tokens until its supply exhausts at 600,000,000 units.

That serves as one of the main reasons UNI is still trading 2,500 percent above its debut rate. Traders prefer to speculate on the token for what it represents: the world’s leading decentralized exchange with volumes better than Coinbase and Binance.

And some of those speculators are already anticipating a rebound in the UNI market.

UNI Pullback Calls

A pseudonymous analyst, known by his first name Mac, said that he expects UNI/USD to fall further towards $3.5. But entering the first week of the final quarter, the pair would most likely rebound to the upside.

“UNI shorts are looking good,” he said. “The market is not bueno for bulls atm. Waiting for the first week of Oct to enter longs.”

UNI trade setup, as presented by MacnBTC. Source: TradingView.com

UNI trade setup, as presented by MacnBTC. Source: TradingView.com

Another pseudonymous analyst with a history of posting accurate crypto market outlook also presented a pullback scenario for the UniSwap token. Nevertheless, he mentioned specific criteria before he enters any long position.

UNI trade setup, as presented by John Wick. Source: TradingView.com

UNI trade setup, as presented by John Wick. Source: TradingView.com

“UNI is looking to retest the breakout,” the analyst noted. “These are usually even better R/R entries at the retest. If it reacts with a sign of strength its a buy with a stop at support.”

On a broader scale, the UniSwap token expects to stay inside the bias dictated by the overall cryptocurrency market trend. With uncertainty over the US election looming, and the second stimulus bill in pending state, almost all the bullish assets are anticipating sell-offs.

That may include UNI as well.

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Chinese APT Group Targets Media, Finance, and Electronics Sectors

Cybersecurity researchers on Tuesday uncovered a new espionage campaign targeting media, construction, engineering, electronics, and finance sectors in Japan, Taiwan, the U.S., and China.

Linking the attacks to Palmerworm (aka BlackTech) — likely a China-based advanced persistent threat (APT) — Symantec’s Threat Hunter Team said the first wave of activity associated with this campaign began last year in August 2019, although their ultimate motivations still remain unclear.

“While we cannot see what Palmerworm is exfiltrating from these victims, the group is considered an espionage group and its likely motivation is considered to be stealing information from targeted companies,” the cybersecurity firm said.

Among the multiple victims infected by Palmerworm, the media, electronics, and finance companies were all based in Taiwan, while an engineering company in Japan and a construction firm in China were also targeted.

In addition to using custom malware to compromise organizations, the group is said to have remained active on the Taiwanese media company’s network for a year, with signs of activity observed as recently as August 2020, potentially implying China’s continued interest in Taiwan.

This is not the first time the BlackTech gang has gone after business in East Asia. A 2017 analysis by Trend Micro found the group to have orchestrated three campaigns — PLEAD, Shrouded Crossbow, and Waterbear — with an intent to steal confidential documents and the target’s intellectual property.

Stating that some of the identified malware samples matched with PLEAD, the researchers said they identified four previously undocumented backdoors (Backdoor.Consock, Backdoor.Waship, Backdoor.Dalwit, and Backdoor.Nomri), indicating “they may be newly developed tools, or the evolution of older Palmerworm tools.”

The brand new custom malware toolset alone would have made the attribution difficult if it were not for the use of dual-use tools (such as Putty, PSExec, SNScan, and WinRAR) and stolen code-signing certificates to digitally sign its malicious payloads and thwart detection, a tactic that it has been found to employ before.

Another detail that’s noticeably not too clear is the infection vector itself, the method Palmerworm has used to gain initial access to the victim networks. The group, however, has leveraged spear-phishing emails in the past to deliver and install their backdoor, either in the form of an attachment or through links to cloud storage services.

“APT groups continue to be highly active in 2020, with their use of dual-use tools and living-off-the-land tactics making their activity ever harder to detect, and underlining the need for customers to have a comprehensive security solution in place that can detect this kind of activity,” Symantec said.

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Bitcoin Topside Bias Vulnerable If It Continues To Struggle Below $11K

Bitcoin price is stuck in a broad range below the $11,000 resistance against the US Dollar. BTC is likely to decline sharply if it continues to fail near $10,800 and $11,000.

• Bitcoin is struggling to gain bullish momentum and it is well below the $11,000 resistance.


• The price is approaching the 100 hourly simple moving average and the $10,750 support.


• There is a major contracting triangle forming with resistance near $10,850 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken).


• The pair could either surge above $10,850 or it might start a fresh decline towards $10,200.

Bitcoin Price is Stuck in a Range

After a sharp bearish reaction from the $10,950 zone, bitcoin price found support near the $10,650 level against the US Dollar. The bears made a couple of attempts to clear the $10,650 support, but they failed.

The recent low was formed near $10,647 before the price recovered above $10,750. The price traded as high as $10,860 and it is currently correcting lower. There was a break below the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the recent rise from the $10,647 low to $10,860 high.

Bitcoin is now approaching the 100 hourly simple moving average and the $10,750 support. It is close to the 50% Fib retracement level of the recent rise from the $10,647 low to $10,860 high.

Bitcoin price trades below $10,800. Source: TradingView.com

It seems like there is a major contracting triangle forming with resistance near $10,850 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair. To start a strong increase, the price must clear the triangle resistance and then the $10,950 zone.

The main hurdle is still near the $11,000 resistance, above which there are real chances of a sustained upward move towards the $11,500 and $11,600 levels in the near term.

Downsides Break in BTC?

If bitcoin fails to climb above the $10,800 and $10,850 resistance levels, there is a risk of a downside break. The first key support is near the triangle lower trend line or $10,650.

A clear break below the $10,650 support might increase chances of more downsides below the main support zone at $10,550. In the stated case, the price is likely to dive towards $10,200 or even $10,000 in the coming sessions.

Technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD is struggling to gain pace in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BTC/USD is currently testing the 50 level.

Major Support Levels – $10,650, followed by $10,550.

Major Resistance Levels – $10,850, $10,950 and $11,000.

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Tron (TRX) Price Analysis: Risk of a Sharp Decline Below $0.024

• Tron price is struggling to clear the $0.0280 and $0.0300 resistance levels against the US Dollar.


• TRX price is now trading well below $0.0280 and the 55 simple moving average (4-hours).


• There is a major bearish trend line forming with resistance near $0.0280 on the 4-hours chart (data feed via Bitfinex).


• The pair remains at a risk of a sharp decline if it fails to stay above the $0.0245 support zone.

TRON price is currently trading in a range above the $0.0245 support against the US Dollar, similar to bitcoin. TRX price must break $0.0280 or it could dive below $0.0245.

Tron Price Analysis

TRON price remained stable above the $0.0245 and $0.0250 support levels against the US Dollar. TRX price started a decent upward move above the $0.0260 and $0.0265 levels, but it faced many hurdles.

It seems like the price is struggling to clear the $0.0280 and $0.0300 resistance levels. The recent high was formed near $0.0289 before the price started a fresh decline. There was a break below the $0.0280 support level.

Besides, the price broke the 50% Fib retracement level of the upward move from the $0.0245 low to $0.0289 high. It is now trading well below $0.0280 and the 55 simple moving average (4-hours).

An initial support is near the $0.0255 level. It is close to the 76.4% Fib retracement level of the upward move from the $0.0245 low to $0.0289 high. The main support is still near the $0.0245 level, below which the price is likely to nosedive.

The next key support is near the $0.0220 level. Any further losses could lead the price towards the $0.0200 level. On the upside, there are many hurdles near $0.0280. There is also a major bearish trend line forming with resistance near $0.0280 on the 4-hours chart.

The next major resistance above the trend line is near the $0.0285 and $0.0300 levels. A close above the $0.0280 resistance and $0.0300 is needed to start a strong upward move in the coming days.

Tron Price

The chart indicates that TRX price is clearly trading in a bearish zone below the $0.0280 resistance. Overall, the price remains at a risk of a sharp decline if it fails to stay above the $0.0245 support zone.

Technical Indicators

4 hours MACD – The MACD for TRX/USD is slowly gaining strength in the bearish zone.

4 hours RSI – The RSI for TRX/USD is currently well below the 50 the 40 level.

Key Support Levels – $0.0255 and $0.0245.

Key Resistance Levels – $0.0280, $0.0285 and $0.0300.

The post Tron (TRX) Price Analysis: Risk of a Sharp Decline Below $0.024 appeared first on Live Bitcoin News.

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