Category Archives: Bitcoin
Bitcoin to the Rescue as Ron Paul Says US Fed Fake Economy Has Burst – Cointelegraph
The United States Federal Reserve fake economy has burst, former presidential candidate Ron Paul has announced as money printing takes its balance sheet to $6.6 trillion.
In a series of tweets on April 24, Paul became the latest critic to launch a scathing on U.S. economic policy present and past.
According to the pro-Bitcoin retired politician, neither coronavirus nor a brief uptick in stocks can hide the impact of the Feds actions. For him, Keynesian ideas such as market interventions and money printing are un-American.
The Fed's fake economy has burst. The stock market, even if it rises, cannot hide the damage that has been done. The virus, now known to be less deadly than the seasonal flu, cannot act as a legitimate excuse either, he wrote.
Another tweet read:
The un-American ideas of government micromanagement and Fed central planning of the economy have failed, and will continue to fail as long as they're clung to. The time to rebuild with the American ideas of liberty and sound money has arrived.
Pauls comments come as the Feds balance sheet reaches record highs of $6.6 trillion, purely due to money printing and associated economic bailout measures.
Federal Reserve balance sheet 14-year chart. Source: Holger Zschaepitz/ Twitter
As Cointelegraph reported, Raoul Pal, CEO of Global Macro Investor, this week released a dedicated 120-page report into the severity of the economic damage sparked by governments reaction to coronavirus.
The Baby Boomers are totally f*cked, a popular soundbite from the report, which champions Bitcoin, summarizes.
Meanwhile, the trader who called Bitcoin (BTC) topping at around $20,000 in 2017 has drawn comparisons to the stock markets of 2020 and 1930 just before the Great Depression hit with full force.
Comparing two Dow Jones charts, Peter Brandt argued that stocks current rise from last months crash merely echoes their behavior after the 1929 Wall Street Crash.
Sleep well tonight. We are all so lucky to be living in an age when Fed will bail us out, he sarcastically added in comments.
Dow Jones charts from 2020 and 1929-30. Source: Peter Brandt/ Twitter
The idea that money printing is ruinous in the long term has formed part of similar Fed criticism for almost a century.
The world is full of so-called economists who in turn are full of schemes for getting something for nothing, Henry Hazlitt wrote in his popular book, Economics in One Lesson, just a year after the Second World War.
They tell us that the government can spend and spend without taxing at all; that it can continue to pile up debt without ever paying it off, because we owe it to ourselves.
The rest is here:
Bitcoin to the Rescue as Ron Paul Says US Fed Fake Economy Has Burst - Cointelegraph
Take the Money and Run – Bitcoin Transfers (even within the same state) Provide Basis for Federal Jurisdiction in Money Laundering Conviction – JD…
Updated: May 25, 2018:
JD Supra is a legal publishing service that connects experts and their content with broader audiences of professionals, journalists and associations.
This Privacy Policy describes how JD Supra, LLC ("JD Supra" or "we," "us," or "our") collects, uses and shares personal data collected from visitors to our website (located at http://www.jdsupra.com) (our "Website") who view only publicly-available content as well as subscribers to our services (such as our email digests or author tools)(our "Services"). By using our Website and registering for one of our Services, you are agreeing to the terms of this Privacy Policy.
Please note that if you subscribe to one of our Services, you can make choices about how we collect, use and share your information through our Privacy Center under the "My Account" dashboard (available if you are logged into your JD Supra account).
Registration Information. When you register with JD Supra for our Website and Services, either as an author or as a subscriber, you will be asked to provide identifying information to create your JD Supra account ("Registration Data"), such as your:
Other Information: We also collect other information you may voluntarily provide. This may include content you provide for publication. We may also receive your communications with others through our Website and Services (such as contacting an author through our Website) or communications directly with us (such as through email, feedback or other forms or social media). If you are a subscribed user, we will also collect your user preferences, such as the types of articles you would like to read.
Information from third parties (such as, from your employer or LinkedIn): We may also receive information about you from third party sources. For example, your employer may provide your information to us, such as in connection with an article submitted by your employer for publication. If you choose to use LinkedIn to subscribe to our Website and Services, we also collect information related to your LinkedIn account and profile.
Your interactions with our Website and Services: As is true of most websites, we gather certain information automatically. This information includes IP addresses, browser type, Internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp and clickstream data. We use this information to analyze trends, to administer the Website and our Services, to improve the content and performance of our Website and Services, and to track users' movements around the site. We may also link this automatically-collected data to personal information, for example, to inform authors about who has read their articles. Some of this data is collected through information sent by your web browser. We also use cookies and other tracking technologies to collect this information. To learn more about cookies and other tracking technologies that JD Supra may use on our Website and Services please see our "Cookies Guide" page.
We use the information and data we collect principally in order to provide our Website and Services. More specifically, we may use your personal information to:
JD Supra takes reasonable and appropriate precautions to insure that user information is protected from loss, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. We restrict access to user information to those individuals who reasonably need access to perform their job functions, such as our third party email service, customer service personnel and technical staff. You should keep in mind that no Internet transmission is ever 100% secure or error-free. Where you use log-in credentials (usernames, passwords) on our Website, please remember that it is your responsibility to safeguard them. If you believe that your log-in credentials have been compromised, please contact us at privacy@jdsupra.com.
Our Website and Services are not directed at children under the age of 16 and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 16 through our Website and/or Services. If you have reason to believe that a child under the age of 16 has provided personal information to us, please contact us, and we will endeavor to delete that information from our databases.
Our Website and Services may contain links to other websites. The operators of such other websites may collect information about you, including through cookies or other technologies. If you are using our Website or Services and click a link to another site, you will leave our Website and this Policy will not apply to your use of and activity on those other sites. We encourage you to read the legal notices posted on those sites, including their privacy policies. We are not responsible for the data collection and use practices of such other sites. This Policy applies solely to the information collected in connection with your use of our Website and Services and does not apply to any practices conducted offline or in connection with any other websites.
JD Supra's principal place of business is in the United States. By subscribing to our website, you expressly consent to your information being processed in the United States.
You can make a request to exercise any of these rights by emailing us at privacy@jdsupra.com or by writing to us at:
You can also manage your profile and subscriptions through our Privacy Center under the "My Account" dashboard.
We will make all practical efforts to respect your wishes. There may be times, however, where we are not able to fulfill your request, for example, if applicable law prohibits our compliance. Please note that JD Supra does not use "automatic decision making" or "profiling" as those terms are defined in the GDPR.
Pursuant to Section 1798.83 of the California Civil Code, our customers who are California residents have the right to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes.
You can make a request for this information by emailing us at privacy@jdsupra.com or by writing to us at:
Some browsers have incorporated a Do Not Track (DNT) feature. These features, when turned on, send a signal that you prefer that the website you are visiting not collect and use data regarding your online searching and browsing activities. As there is not yet a common understanding on how to interpret the DNT signal, we currently do not respond to DNT signals on our site.
For non-EU/Swiss residents, if you would like to know what personal information we have about you, you can send an e-mail to privacy@jdsupra.com. We will be in contact with you (by mail or otherwise) to verify your identity and provide you the information you request. We will respond within 30 days to your request for access to your personal information. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your personal information, in which case we will let you know if we are unable to do so and why. If you would like to correct or update your personal information, you can manage your profile and subscriptions through our Privacy Center under the "My Account" dashboard. If you would like to delete your account or remove your information from our Website and Services, send an e-mail to privacy@jdsupra.com.
We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time. Please refer to the date at the top of this page to determine when this Policy was last revised. Any changes to our Privacy Policy will become effective upon posting of the revised policy on the Website. By continuing to use our Website and Services following such changes, you will be deemed to have agreed to such changes.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of this site, your dealings with our Website or Services, or if you would like to change any of the information you have provided to us, please contact us at: privacy@jdsupra.com.
As with many websites, JD Supra's website (located at http://www.jdsupra.com) (our "Website") and our services (such as our email article digests)(our "Services") use a standard technology called a "cookie" and other similar technologies (such as, pixels and web beacons), which are small data files that are transferred to your computer when you use our Website and Services. These technologies automatically identify your browser whenever you interact with our Website and Services.
We use cookies and other tracking technologies to:
There are different types of cookies and other technologies used our Website, notably:
JD Supra Cookies. We place our own cookies on your computer to track certain information about you while you are using our Website and Services. For example, we place a session cookie on your computer each time you visit our Website. We use these cookies to allow you to log-in to your subscriber account. In addition, through these cookies we are able to collect information about how you use the Website, including what browser you may be using, your IP address, and the URL address you came from upon visiting our Website and the URL you next visit (even if those URLs are not on our Website). We also utilize email web beacons to monitor whether our emails are being delivered and read. We also use these tools to help deliver reader analytics to our authors to give them insight into their readership and help them to improve their content, so that it is most useful for our users.
Analytics/Performance Cookies. JD Supra also uses the following analytic tools to help us analyze the performance of our Website and Services as well as how visitors use our Website and Services:
Facebook, Twitter and other Social Network Cookies. Our content pages allow you to share content appearing on our Website and Services to your social media accounts through the "Like," "Tweet," or similar buttons displayed on such pages. To accomplish this Service, we embed code that such third party social networks provide and that we do not control. These buttons know that you are logged in to your social network account and therefore such social networks could also know that you are viewing the JD Supra Website.
If you would like to change how a browser uses cookies, including blocking or deleting cookies from the JD Supra Website and Services you can do so by changing the settings in your web browser. To control cookies, most browsers allow you to either accept or reject all cookies, only accept certain types of cookies, or prompt you every time a site wishes to save a cookie. It's also easy to delete cookies that are already saved on your device by a browser.
The processes for controlling and deleting cookies vary depending on which browser you use. To find out how to do so with a particular browser, you can use your browser's "Help" function or alternatively, you can visit http://www.aboutcookies.org which explains, step-by-step, how to control and delete cookies in most browsers.
We may update this cookie policy and our Privacy Policy from time-to-time, particularly as technology changes. You can always check this page for the latest version. We may also notify you of changes to our privacy policy by email.
If you have any questions about how we use cookies and other tracking technologies, please contact us at: privacy@jdsupra.com.
Read the original here:
Take the Money and Run - Bitcoin Transfers (even within the same state) Provide Basis for Federal Jurisdiction in Money Laundering Conviction - JD...
Bitcoin returns to form with solid price growth amid the coronavirus pandemic – SiliconANGLE
After a tumultuous two monthsduring the COVID-19 pandemic, the price of bitcoin is starting to return to form as the cryptocurrency sees its highest prices since the second week of March.
During the pandemic and related financial turmoil, bitcoin has been on a rollercoaster ride, dropping briefly below $4,000 March 12, down from more than $10,000 in the middle of February before slowly rising again.
Over the last week, bitcoins price has seen sustained growth, from $6,783.06 April 21 to $7,703.29 as of 10 p.m. EDT. A similar trend can be seen over the last month, bitcoin having dropped to $5878.71 March 30.
In the short term, bitcoin traders are looking to $8,100 as the next resistance point,according to Bitcoinist. Others, such as NewsBTC suggest that bitcoin may be entering a full-blown bull run should history repeat, comparing the current rally to that of February 2019, which saw bitcoins price move from $3,000 to $14,000 in five months.
One factor that may be influencing bitcoins upward movement is the forthcoming halving expected to take place May 12.The halving will cause the supply of new bitcoin available through bitcoin mining to be halved, hence the name. That creates a scarcity of new supply, which in traditional economics causes prices to increase.
A report from Glassnode also noted that many investors are holding their bitcoin during the coronavirus pandemic, indicating that long-term holders are not concerned by the price decline in March. Nearly 43% of circulating bitcoin supply has not moved in the last two years, a 10.4% increase from the same time last year, the report noted.
The unknown factor in looking forward, however, is the broader economy. Although bitcoin has long been pitched as a safe haven during difficult times, that theory fell flat in March as bitcoin declined along with equities markets. How long the pandemic continues, and if and when economies may start to reopen and eventually return to some sense of normalcy, is anyones guess at this stage, although there are some signs that the worst may be over.
Bitcoin may be well-placed to grow in the coming year alongside the recovery of broader markets, but given its history, it could go in either direction.
Show your support for our mission with our one-click subscription to our YouTube channel (below). The more subscribers we have, the more YouTube will suggest relevant enterprise and emerging technology content to you. Thanks!
Support our mission: >>>>>> SUBSCRIBE NOW >>>>>> to our YouTube channel.
Wed also like to tell you about our mission and how you can help us fulfill it. SiliconANGLE Media Inc.s business model is based on the intrinsic value of the content, not advertising. Unlike many online publications, we dont have a paywall or run banner advertising, because we want to keep our journalism open, without influence or the need to chase traffic.The journalism, reporting and commentary onSiliconANGLE along with live, unscripted video from our Silicon Valley studio and globe-trotting video teams attheCUBE take a lot of hard work, time and money. Keeping the quality high requires the support of sponsors who are aligned with our vision of ad-free journalism content.
If you like the reporting, video interviews and other ad-free content here,please take a moment to check out a sample of the video content supported by our sponsors,tweet your support, and keep coming back toSiliconANGLE.
Read this article:
Bitcoin returns to form with solid price growth amid the coronavirus pandemic - SiliconANGLE
Bitcoin Price Analysis: BTCs Bullish Formation Might Reach $8,000 Quicker Than Expected – CryptoPotato
What a recovery. Bitcoin is only a few steps away from a full recovery since the March 12 collapse, which took place only six weeks ago and saw Bitcoin plunging to $3600 (BitMEX).
The primary cryptocurrency had recently broken above at $7230. On the following 4-hour chart you can notice the mid-term descending trend-lines breakout.
Following the break, the 4-hour candle had wicked at $7750 (!), which was our highest mentioned target on our most recent price analysis.
Despite the wick, we can see that Bitcoin is forming a bullish triangle on the 4-hour chart. From above, the $7600 resistance, while below is the marked ascending trend-line.
Bullish triangles, just like their name, tend to break to the upside in most cases. In case of a bullish breakout, we can expect Bitcoin to quickly reach the target of $7750, which was the high from Thursday, and the highest level since the March 12 price crash.
From below, the most significant level to keep an eye on is $7400 $7500, which is the level Bitcoin is trading at, as of writing these lines.
This is from our previous analysis: The pattern will be invalidated in case Bitcoin breaks above $7300, together with the marked descending trend-line, and also confirms it as support.
We must say that so far, Bitcoin does this exactly.
Total Market Cap: $218.5 billion
Bitcoin Market Cap: $139.1 billion
BTC Dominance Index: 63.7%
*Data by CoinGecko
Support/Resistance levels: As mentioned above, Bitcoin is currently trading on top of the $7400 $7500 resistance turned support area.
From above, the first level of resistance now lies at $7600 (the bullish triangle on the 4-hour chart). In case of a breakout, the next destination is likely to be $7750 (the monthly high).
Further above lies the major resistance area of $8000, which includes the psychological benchmark level, a long-term ascending trend-line (started forming a year ago), and both the 100 and the 200 days moving average lines marked white and light green respectively on the following daily chart. This level will also declare a full recovery since the March 12 collapse.
However, from below, in case the $7400 level breaks down, then we can expect slight support at $7300, followed by $7200. Further down lies $7000 and the 50-days moving average line (pink), which hovers around $6800.
The RSI Indicator: Following the price breakout, the momentum indicator the RSI, finally moved away from the indecisive level of 50 to the bullish region.
The indicator is currently facing the 60 levels. This is the highest level of the RSI since February 18 (Bitcoin above $10,000), which is quite optimistic and promising (as of now).
Trading volume: Thursdays volume candle was the weekly highest. However, we still miss the substantial volume levels that were reached during March.
Enjoy reading? Please share:
Click here to start trading on BitMEX and receive 10% discount on fees for 6 months.
Disclaimer: Information found on CryptoPotato is those of writers quoted. It does not represent the opinions of CryptoPotato on whether to buy, sell, or hold any investments. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use provided information at your own risk. See Disclaimer for more information.
Cryptocurrency chartsby TradingView.
Go here to read the rest:
Bitcoin Price Analysis: BTCs Bullish Formation Might Reach $8,000 Quicker Than Expected - CryptoPotato
HandCash make Bitcoin more accessible ‘for the rest of us’ – CoinGeek
HandCash is a leading wallet provider for the Bitcoin SV ecosystem that is best known for its pioneering approaches to make Bitcoin as user friendly as possible. Other digital currency app developers have already been more than inspired by HandCashs design.
CoinGeeks Michael Wehrmann caught up with Alex Agut, Rafa Jimnez and Ivan Mlinari from HandCash to talk about Bitcoin app design, inter-wallet competition, Bitcoin computation and more.
Hello Alex, Rafa and Ivan! Kindly introduce our readers to what HandCash is and what role each of you fulfill in the HandCash team.
Alex Agut: Im one of the co-founders and CEO at HandCash, and my roles are mostly product design and dealing with the business side: raising money, marketing and paperwork.
Rafa Jimnez: Im the (other) co-founder and CTO at HandCash. Im responsible for the technological decisions to fulfill the vision of our company, provide the resources to our development team as well as create and implement our team culture. Also I do a bunch of coding, of course!
Ivan Mlinari: Im the senior software engineer. Joined almost a year ago. I am responsible for our cloud infrastructure and domain knowledge/logic.
HandCashs website slogan is Bitcoin for the rest of us. What does it mean?
Alex Agut: While others have been trying to please the cryptocurrency crowd for the last 10 years, we feel our place in this ecosystem is to make this technology more accessible and valuable for the rest of the world.
HandCash is best known for its astonishingly simple user interface. Some months ago, we have seen a well-known BCH wallet providerwith way more funding than you havemore or less copying your entire UI. Is there any way for HandCash to protect its UI against blatant copying?
Alex Agut: No. In fact, we think its a strong positive signal that companies all over the world are looking at our company for leadership in terms of usability, design and mindset. We keep innovating and we have things in development which are years ahead of anything out therenext time itll take a few years for others to catch upbut they will try. Youll see what I mean.
What does it tell us if a well-funded BCH wallet provider actually pays attention to your creations? Are you setting new standards for digital currency apps in general?
Rafa Jimnez: Innovation means providing new products that are accepted. It sort of validates the work our team is doing. We are actually working on the next iteration of digital currency. We have seen credit cards, then we had PayPal and the next generation is HandCash with Cloud Money to make money more connected and accessible. So new technology requires new standards.
Ivan Mlinari: We like to focus on a handful of things we see as important but not properly addressed in the world of digital currencies. If others later copy us that usually means we were right about it.
Alex, you have tweeted that copying a design is never the same as actually creating it, as there is more to design than just design decisions on the surface. Kindly elaborate on that.
Alex Agut: I believe that design is about how things work, not how they look. If you are blindly copying the placement of buttons and screens, without knowing the why behind those decisions, youll never understand the essence of your product. The UI is just the culmination of your intent, your purpose. Theres a process behind it.
How is HandCash actually making money? And how do you plan on making even more money?
Alex Agut: To be honest, our only source of income at the moment is our merchandising, thanks to an exclusivity agreement with Zeroconfs.com, but we will start monetizing in a more meaningful way very soon through Connect, some neat fiat ramp systems and other stuff. At the same time we realize monetizing or not at this stage wont move the needle one bit as this industry is barely starting and there are still a lot of innovations needed to get to a point where we can market this confidently to normal people.
HandCash and Money Button recently surprised Bitcoin SV users with a huge press release concerning the implementation of an inter-wallet peer-to-peer collaboration. Kindly introduce our readers to this implementation and the implications of that.
Rafa Jimnez: It was a great announcement! Using the Bitcoin network has become the standard way for the wallets and services to communicate to each other. This approach is highly expensive for services with many users that use their wallets frequently as we need to constantly monitor each transaction in the network to find out which one is relevant for our users.What we announced was a different communication channel based on Paymail, so the different wallet providers can communicate to each other directly (P2P) instead of using the Bitcoin network thoroughly. The Bitcoin network should be reserved just for the miners. This is just part of the original recipe of Bitcoin.Ivan Mlinari: IP2IP transactions are something that was part of original Satoshis bitcoin client. But after he left functionality was removed, because it was never fully implemented. Yesterday we were joking we are now fulfilling Theymos vision because there is an old thread on bitcointalk where core developers decided to remove it from the code base. And Theymos was the only one in favor to rather finish it. He was overruled. If you know his role later in the small block and everyone needs to run a full node debate it is a pretty fascinating read.
Our main motivation here is to go P2P as soon as possible as this is primarily a scalability solution. We cannot afford that one single enterprise adopts BSV and surprises us with lots of traffic on the BSV network. One big entity can literally kill the majority of the apps running now on Bitcoin when it generates lots of traffic. Recipe on how to solve the scalability issue was already set by Satoshi. We chose to extend paymail, because paymail already solved what was missing from Satoshis implementation and we actually just needed to add the part he did implement. Money Button did a fantastic job here for us, we are very thankful.
I find this collaboration interesting, because I thought HandCash and Money Button compete for the same users. Is Bitcoin incentivizing businesses to collaborate in new ways other than in the non-Bitcoin world?
Alex Agut: Personally, we dont consider Money Button our competition, so that makes things easy. We might be trying to reach the same audience right now, but as time passes and the audience gets bigger (the pie grows) the differences will be more noticeable. I even think they can be two great complimentary products and ecosystems, so well see.
Given our friendship, weve discussed many times about our shared need of moving away from non-P2P to a P2P kind of network, as it should (just read the title of the whitepaper). So both of our teams decided to join forces as we both had a very similar goal, and it would be a win-win for both of us. We have more to lose by not having P2P in Bitcoin when dealing with other services, and Money Button is by far our biggest bridge of transactions (outside of HandCash to HandCash) so it made so much sense to cover most of our transactions under P2P as soon as possible. This will be particularly critical when we launch Connect as part of the HandCash ecosystem.
Help us understand how wallet providers actually compete in the Bitcoin SV ecosystem. Is there an incentive for wallet providers to let users switch to other services easily, or is there an incentive to lock in users? Looking at Twitter, Google, Amazon etc., they are essentially all locking in users in a way, because otherwise their business models would not work. Users might not even want to have several wallet providers or switch services in general though, but have one that meets their demands perfectly well. What are your thoughts?
Alex Agut: There are many sides to that. While Bitcoin enthusiasts (or fans) cheer for interoperability of keys and freedom of movement, both from the business and development side things look a lot differently. Theres a big incentive to create and grow your network effect, and also there are immense advantages of having a custom wallet infrastructure thats not compatible with others: flexibility for new features, increased security, way less errors, drastically less support tickets so its not a matter of trying to lock down, we cant.
You can always send your Bitcoin away by using paymail, or cashing out to your bank. We cant and we wont hold anybody hostage. But does it make any sense to export your private key etc. to another wallet infrastructure and cause UTXO sync issues to both companies and make double spends easier to pull off, when you can just move your money away and get a csv with all your transactions from that service? We think thats just the old, geeky way of doing things, but doesnt necessarily create the best products. We are not dogmatic about Bitcoin, we are just using it as a tool to create great products that people love and find valuable.
Rafa Jimnez: We agree with Ryan X. Charles and other entrepreneurs in the space on making the pie bigger instead of trying to monopolize the ecosystem. The possibilities right now are endless, so competing for the same thing would even be a joke.
I have a strong opinion on interoperability. Despite being a desirable feature, its very expensive: many different companies have to agree on the same way to operate. It hinders innovation as you cant change the way to operate even if you find more efficient or more sophisticated ways.
We need to be smart about managing the interoperability/innovation barrier, especially in the growing period we are now! This is why our collaboration with Money Button has a lot of value.Ivan Mlinari: The big advantage for a Bitcoin powered wallet is it that company building it can save a lot of operational costs and enjoys the reduced barrier to entry because a startup does not need to build a very expensive closed custom ledger and then spend lots of money on securing it (internally and externally). This part is mostly solved from day one and companies can enjoy competitive advantage over those which are not in this position. But Bitcoin is inherently a public ledger, so the moment you touch it you are entering the interoperable world. Users can always send money to different wallets.But there are also other economic incentives. We cooperate with other wallets and POS providers because talking directly to each other is the only way we can efficiently scale while using sufficient privacy and utilize advanced features Bitcoin provides.
Is it wrong to say your inter-wallet P2P implementation helps Bitcoin SV to scale, or at least helps the Bitcoin SV apps to scale?
Rafa Jimnez: Thats right. The P2P network between users and services is not relevant for the miners at all. So this is a measure to help applications to scale, or in other words to scale the application layer.
Ivan Mlinari: Its not wrong at all. Its exactly that.
As far as I understand, this P2P implementation is between services, not necessarily between customers and merchants. Is that correct?
Rafa Jimnez: Great question. This implementation provides some kind of transaction notifications between services. At the time one service notified other services about a transaction, such a transaction was already sent to the miners.In the customer-merchant context, at the time the transaction is sent from the customer to the merchant it has not been seen by the miners yet, because they need to make sure they agree on certain criteria for the transaction like the exact amount to pay or the fees.The context for the implementation we provided doesnt need to enforce these rules. Its just people sending tips to each other or people transferring their funds between different services.
Ivan Mlinari: Yes, this is just a simple push transaction protocol between services/wallets/users. Main use case we had in mind when we designed it was microtransactions. But that doesnt mean it does not work well for larger transactions, too. It is very similar to BIP270 which covers merchant payments, but is not that. Its a separate simplified protocol.
Is HandCash working for B2C transactions to be more SPV in the future, too?
New to Bitcoin? Check out CoinGeeksBitcoin for Beginnerssection, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about Bitcoinas originally envisioned by Satoshi Nakamotoand blockchain.
The rest is here:
HandCash make Bitcoin more accessible 'for the rest of us' - CoinGeek
New Research says Tether is not Linked with Bitcoin Price Changes – Inside Bitcoins
Despite some contentious notions, recent research has proven that Stablecoin does not artificially inflate Bitcoin prices at the cryptocurrency market. On a similar note, the research also revealed the important role the digital asset is playing in the industry and predicted more growth for Bitcoin in the future.
Last year, two researchers reported that their findings revealed that Tether USDT (the most popular stablecoin) was responsible for the unprecedented price increase in 2017/2018. During that period, Bitcoin grew to an astonishing value of $20,000. Immediately after the allegation, Tether refuted all the allegations, pointing out that its stablecoin had never at any time impacted Bitcoin price or been involved in any price manipulations. Both parties left the argument without a conclusive view from the public.
However, the recent report by another group of academics may throw more light on the argument. The research is in favour of Tether, pointing out that the revelation of its research did not see any link between Tether and price manipulations in the cryptocurrency market.
Richard Lyons, Entrepreneurship officer at UC Berkeley, and Ganesh Viswanath-Natraj, assistant professor of finance at Warwick Business School, were the two academics involved in the new research. They pointed out one important update in the issuance process of Tether. Before 2018, all coins created via grants were immediately distributed to Bitfinex for trading in the secondary market, they said.
But afterward, the Tether treasury retained a small part of all USDT in circulation. The idea was to exchange the reserve funds for dollars whenever the price of USDT in the secondary market rises above parity. When the researcher evaluated the stock impact of the measured Tether inflow into the secondary market, they did not find out any real evidence which supports the claim that the issuance of stablecoins impacts on cryptocurrency prices.
The researchers also referred to the cryptocurrency incident last month where many cryptocurrencies fell by 50% within 24 hours. They said a situation like these proves that stablecoins constantly take the role of a safe-haven in the digital market. During times of mainstream volatility, they become very relevant to traders who are looking to diversify their investments.
Last month, altcoins and Bitcoin spiraled downward while stable coins rose considerably in value. Its an indication that market forces are at play and not because of Tether, they reiterated.
View original post here:
New Research says Tether is not Linked with Bitcoin Price Changes - Inside Bitcoins
Is 2020 The New 2017? Bitcoin Could Be This Years Best Performing Asset – Forbes
Bitcoin exploded onto the global stage in 2017 with a massive rally that made many early adopters overnight millionaires.
The bitcoin price, which is up around 5% so far in 2020 after a rocky few weeks following the coronavirus crash, has swung wildly over the last yeardown around 50% from its 2019 high.
Now, as traders eye the biggest quantitative easing program ever undertaken, bitcoin could outperform the wider market in 2020 with investors scrambling to keep up with a rapidly evolving and uncertain situation.
Bitcoin traders are looking forward to a number of major developments this year that could send the ... [+] bitcoin price higher--though bitcoin remains highly volatile.
"Economists are dealing with three levels of uncertainty," UBS chief economist Paul Donovan wrote in his daily update.
"Uncertainty about the virus. Uncertainty about the policy response. Uncertainty about the economic response to the virus and to policy. Changes in any one of those change economic outcomes."
Donovan added the latest consumer sentiment surveys should be "thrown away unread."
Amid all this uncertainty, bitcoin's roadmap remains unchanged with the highly-anticipated halving event looming.
Next month, the number of bitcoin rewarded to those that maintain the bitcoin network, known as miners, will be halved for the third time, dropping from 12.5 bitcoin per block to 6.25.
Bitcoin halvings are scheduled to continue roughly once every four years until the maximum supply of 21 million bitcoins has been generated by the networksomething that isn't expected to happen until well into the next century.
"Bitcoin has been the best performing asset by far over the last year and over the last decade. With all the money being injected into the system at this time and the upcoming halving, I don't see any reason it wouldn't continue to outperform," said Mati Greenspan, the founder of financial advisory outfit Quantum Economics.
A survey of major bitcoin investors showed most were upbeat at the beginning of the year, with the bitcoin price expected to soar to over $20,000 per bitcoin in 2020.
"The current unexpected global crisis and a number of notable events in bitcoins pipeline over the next nine months is causing speculation throughout the industry that another bull run is on the horizon and I believe that we can only expect the price of bitcoin to continue in the direction that everything is currently pointing potentially towards that $20,000 figure and beyond," said Danny Scott, the chief executive of Isle of Man-based bitcoin and crypto exchange CoinCorner.
The bitcoin price exploded in 2017 but has so far failed to return to such heights. Some think ... [+] bitcoin could head toward its all-time highs of $20,000 this year, however.
As the bitcoin sector braces for a supply shock, central banks and governments are revving up money printers.
U.S. president Donald Trump has signed into law the fourth coronavirus relief package that will provide aid to small businesses and the healthcare system to the tune of $484 billion.
Stocks on Wall Street climbed after Trump signed the latest stimulus package into law, shaving their losses for the week.
"Equities have come to the end of a ten year bull run, fixed income is under pressure and we have seen the collapse in the price of a number of key commodities, so with the levels of quantitative easing coming into the markets we would hope to see a steady build in the price of bitcoin to the end of the year," said Marcus Swanepoel, chief executive of London-based bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange Luno.
"Over the last five years bitcoin has consistently outperformed most other major asset classes so it is highly likely this trend will continue, especially with the increased fragility of the existing financial system we've seen over the past few months."
Lawmakers are meanwhile expected to put together a larger package to follow this months CARES Act, which saw millions of Americans receive checks for around $1,200some of which has ended up in bitcoin, according to the chief executive of one of the largest U.S. bitcoin exchanges, Coinbase.
BinanceUS, part of the world's biggest bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange, has reported a 82% rise in daily users over the last month.
"A new influx of users could mean [Americans] are looking for more cost-efficient ways to get into bitcoin or out of crypto," said BinanceUS chief executive Catherine Coley, adding that demand for bitcoin could be outpaced by supply.
Over the last 12 months, the bitcoin price has climbed from $5,500 per bitcoin to $8,500up almost 40% as tech company plans for crypto and digital finance services push central banks toward digital currencies.
Some think bitcoin could cement its status as a so-called safe-haven asset as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, with investors buying bitcoin in times of uncertainty alongside gold.
"If quantitative easing causes an uptick in inflation, we could see bitcoin being increasingly used as a hedge against global instability, which will have a significant positive impact on its performance," said Gavin Smith, chief executive of Panxora Group, a consortium of cryptocurrency companies that includes a hedge fund and a cryptocurrency exchange.
"However, it is far from being a magic money treewe certainly aren't free of price swings and volatility, so while there will likely be an uphill trend in price, investors should still proceed with caution."
See the original post:
Is 2020 The New 2017? Bitcoin Could Be This Years Best Performing Asset - Forbes
Flight To Bitcoin In Argentina Due To Debt Crisis A Sign Of What’s To Come – Bitcoinist
Data from peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange LocalBitcoinsshows that citizens in Argentina are dumping record amounts of their hard-earned pesos in exchange for the first-ever cryptocurrency: Bitcoin.
The countrys economy is crumbling under enormous inflation and is the government is about to default on its debt. With the rest of the world downward spiraling toward similar conditions, is this a sign of whats to come for the leading cryptocurrency by market cap?
The global economy hasnt been healthy in over a decade. The relief and stimulus packages during the Great Recession of 2008 Bitcoinwas born from, only acted as a band-aid and a temporary fix for the underlying debt crisis that has only since gotten worse.
At the start of last year, trade tensions growing between the two world superpowers of US and China put a crack in the already thin ice the economy was resting on. When the coronavirus outbreak arrived, it was the straw that broke the camels back, causing the economy to collapse, the stock market to plummet, and sent the world into chaos.
RELATED READING | MOST IMPORTANT CHART EVER? BITCOIN S2F COMBINED WITH REDDIT RAINBOW CHART EMERGES
Things hit Argentina especially bad, which is currently suffering through the worst inflation the countrys native fiat currency has experienced, and the government is close to defaulting on its debt, which will only further exacerbate the bleak economic conditions.
As citizens watch their hard-earned pesos be devalued at a rapidly increasing rate, theres a mad dash to Bitcoin happening, according to inflows of capital data from peer-to-peer crypto platform LocalBitcoins.
LocalBitcoins connects local BTC holders for OTC transactions.
Data from Arcane Research shows volume has increased by 1028% in Argentine pesos, 407% in Bitcoin, and 139% in USD since the start of 2018 when the economy first began showing dangerous signs of destruction ahead.
Is the situation in Argentina with the nations fiat currency dying and debt running rampant a sign of whats to come for the rest of the world? Currently, the United States Fed has been granted approval by the government to essentially print whatever money is necessary to keep the economy afloat. The country is already in enormous debt, and the money-printing machine only works to rapidly devalue the dollar.
RELATED READING | BITCOIN MAY REMAIN STAGNANT FOR MONTHS, STOCK MARKET CORRELATION SHOWS
A similar hyperinflation environment could be on the horizon for the dollar, and it could cause Bitcoin to shine.
Unlike fiat currencies that can be printed at a whim, Bitcoin is hard-capped at only 21 million BTC with many more of those Bitcoins lost forever on the blockchain. Its this limited supply in the face of an endless fiat currency supply and nations will to keep on printing that could bring Bitcoin to incredible valuations in the future.
View post:
Flight To Bitcoin In Argentina Due To Debt Crisis A Sign Of What's To Come - Bitcoinist
Experts Predict Deflation: There Goes Bitcoin Narrative #697 – Cointelegraph
Many Bitcoiners believe that 'unlimited money printing' will cause hyperinflation and a major BTC price spike this year but experts in the U.S. and Australia predict deflation is more likely to be on the cards.
The Reserve Bank of Australia, ING Bank, The New York Times and UBS are just a handful of organisations who think deflation could be a consequence of falling oil prices and a glut of products due to the plunge in demand caused by lockdowns
That's in stark contrast to the Money printer goes brrrr crowd who believe that unlimited quantitative easing this year will inevitably lead to hyperinflation and see a surge in demand for Bitcoin with its fixed supply of just 21 million coins.
A new survey by Paxful of 500 crypto users found that more than half of Bitcoin holders in the U.S. see the cryptocurrency as a hedge against inflation.
Crypto analyst Plan B argues that money printing benefits Bitcoin, and his stock-to-flow price model is predicated on the block reward halving in May reducing the rate of Bitcoin's supply and pushing up the price. Bitcoin's annual inflation rate after the halving will be 1.8% while gold will be at 2.5%.
Its interesting to note that inflation in the US actually fell 0.4% in March to 1.5% and many believe that inflation will only go down from here. New York Times Senior Economics Correspondent Neil Irwin wrote this week the negative oil price was a sign the world is in a deflationary moment".
The Covid-19 crisis is an extraordinary deflationary shock to the economy, causing the idling of a vast share of the worlds productive resources, he wrote.
In the case of oil, thats because demand has fallen off a cliff, leading to a glut of product and pushing prices negative. He argues that similar supply and demand effects will be seen across the economy. Demand has slumped everywhere from restaurants to airlines, sports arenas are empty, and 22 million workers have filed for unemployment.
"All of that points to a deflationary collapse a glut of supply of goods and services, and consequently falling prices that surpasses anything seen in most peoples lifetimes.
ING Bank's Chief International Economist James Knightley has made a similar point and argues that the collapse in energy prices and surging unemployment will soon see a negative headline CPI (Consumer Price Index).
In his article "US: Deflation is on its Way" he pointed out that expectations that quantitative easing (QE) would lead to inflation hadnt been borne out after the Feds QE1, QE2 and QE3 programmes" following the Global Financial Crisis. He suggested the dollars from the money printer would probably go into propping up financial assets, rather than into the pockets of consumers.
Knightley cited the minutes of the Fed Reserve's March meeting that suggest they believe that even with money printing and the economy reopened, "inflation was projected to weaken".
The Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia Philip Lowe said in a speech this weekthe country faced the biggest hit since the Great Depression and that deflation was a likely outcome in the June quarter.
The large fall in oil prices, combined with the introduction of free childcare and the deferral or reduction in some price increases means that it is quite likely that year-ended headline inflation will turn negative in June. If so, this would be the first time since the early 1960s that the price level has fallen over a full year.
The RBA has fired up the money printer for the first time in its history, but told national broadcaster the ABC recently the incredibly low inflation rate in the decade after the GFC was a good indication inflation was an unlikely outcome.
Hes backed up by UBS chief economist George Tharenou who said the oil price, falling rents and desperate discounting by retailers due to low consumer demand will see the Consumer Price Index in Australia fall by 1.5% over the next three months.
Plan B may well be right that Bitcoin is a good hedge against inflation. After all, Bitcoin is already being used for that purpose in countries such as Venezuela and Zimbabwe that are experiencing hyperinflation. Arcane Research has also published research suggesting demand on LocalBitcoins in Argentina has just hit record highs, partly due to increasing inflation. And its hard to argue with those who point out the purchasing power of $1 in USD has dropped around 99% over the past century.
But while Bitcoin may be a good hedge against inflation, if the experts are to be believed, theres not a lot of inflation thats likely to occur in the near future at least.
More:
Experts Predict Deflation: There Goes Bitcoin Narrative #697 - Cointelegraph
Bitcoin Forms Super Predictive Golden Cross as Price Hits $7.5K – Bitcoinist
At last, bitcoin was able to break above the price ceiling that was keeping it from pursuing a more significant bull run.
The benchmark cryptocurrency jumped above $7,500 this Thursday in a surprising buying action that pushed the prices up by $704 in just three hours. It topped at $7,775 on Coinbase before correcting lower during the early Asian trading session Friday.
BTCUSD maintains gains above red bar resistance | Source: TradingView.com, Coinbase
The crypto has been able to navigate through the heavy resistance labeled on the chart seen above. Nevertheless, the interim price rally paused for a breather, indicating that traders are waiting for a bullish continuationbefore they buy bitcoin at local tops. It may lead to a sharp pullback to the downside.
As bitcoin aims to confirm an extended bull run, the cryptocurrency also has painted a historically accurate and super predictive Golden Cross.
The bullish indicator is formed when an assets short-term moving average closes above its long-term moving average. Bitcoin traders typically watch 50-daily and 200-daily MA curves to confirm a Golden Cross or its opposite, the bearish Death Cross. But those metrics have so far proven to be lagging.
In retrospect, the daily bitcoin chart forms a Golden Cross almost a month after the prices go up. Similarly, the cryptocurrency falls way before it paints a Death Cross pattern. That keeps traders from locating interim profitable opportunities.
But replacing 200-daily simple moving average with a 20-daily exponential moving average improves the predictive quality, as shown in the chart below via red circles.
BTCUSD 20-50 MA Golden and Death Crosses | Source: TradingView.com, Coinbase
The 20-50 MA combo instantly predicts bitcoins next potential moves. As of Friday, the 20-daily EMA is above the 50-daily SMA, hinting that the BTCUSD exchange rate is looking to head higher. A similar formation earlier this year had pushed the pair up by more than 40 percent.
So, in the current scenario, the bitcoin price can rise to as far as $10,000.
On the flip side, bitcoin is still trending higher inside a Rising Wedge pattern, as confirmed by two converging trendlines. The cryptocurrency could continue rising until it reaches the shapes apex. After that, it could fall by as much as the height of the Wedge, leading it below the $5,000 level.
Photo by Samuel McGarrigle on Unsplash
Link:
Bitcoin Forms Super Predictive Golden Cross as Price Hits $7.5K - Bitcoinist