Category Archives: Bitcoin
Bitcoin Politics Seep into Altcoins: SegWit Adoption Slow Across the Board – Bitcoin Magazine
Bitcoin Politics Seep into Altcoins: SegWit Adoption Slow Across the Board Bitcoin Magazine Since most altcoins are based on Bitcoin's codebase, upgrades to Bitcoin are often relatively easy to implement in altcoins. Indeed, as Segregated Witness (SegWit) is slow to activate on Bitcoin, several altcoins are taking a stab at implementing and ... |
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Bitcoin Politics Seep into Altcoins: SegWit Adoption Slow Across the Board - Bitcoin Magazine
Why Professional Traders Now Have More Reason To Try Bitcoin – Forbes
Forbes | Why Professional Traders Now Have More Reason To Try Bitcoin Forbes The service, available for bitcoin, Ethereum, and litecoin, gives customers access to additional funds to make trades three times the size they typically could a strategy that could compound their gains, but also their losses. It also gives these ... This New Tactic Might Finally Lure Big Investors to Bitcoin |
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Why Professional Traders Now Have More Reason To Try Bitcoin - Forbes
Chinese Bitcoin Rules Would Require Identify Verification – PYMNTS.com
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Chinas central bank is expected to proceed with new bitcoin regulation that will require exchanges to identify clients and follow banking guidelines.
MarketWatch reported that the increased scrutiny from the central bank has led many bitcoin exchanges to suspend withdrawals from their platforms and impose trading fees. As a result, Chinese investors have pulled back from the market.
According to a draft version of the proposed guidelines, Chinese bitcoin exchanges would be held to the same banking and anti-money laundering laws as financial institutions. They would also be required to collect identifiable information from their customers and deploy systems to collect and report suspicious activities, people familiar with the matter stated.
Any violations by the exchanges would then be handled by the Peoples Bank of China.
Last month, the bank met with nine small bitcoin platforms, said The Wall Street Journal, and asked them a wide variety of questions, including some that were reportedly related to anti-money laundering.
Bobby Lee, CEO of Shanghai-based bitcoin exchange BTCC, was quoted by WSJ as saying: Its an open secret that the PBoC is not happy to see bitcoin prices go up. With the recent rise, theyre taking actions to see the price go down.
Chinese bitcoin exchanges account for over 90 percent of worldwide trading, and over 80 percent of bitcoin mining operations are currently stationed in the nation of some 1.3 billion.
A shift in Chinese demand or a sudden increase in investor concern has been shown to have a dramatic effect on the value of the popular digital currency. The future of bitcoin in China is uncertain as of now as the PBoC continues its investigation. But one thing is for certain: If bitcoin goes down in China, its more than likely to go down for good.
According to data tracker Bitcoinity, yuan-denominated bitcoin trades accounted for just 17 percent of global volume over the last month, down from 97 percent in the past six months.
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Chinese Bitcoin Rules Would Require Identify Verification - PYMNTS.com
Bitcoin is back above $1000 after plunging below $950 over the weekend – City A.M.
Bitcoin rose back over $1,000 last night after it lost nearly a fifth of its value over the weekend.
The cryptocurrency fell to a low of $943.06 over the weekend as a split in its developer community threatened its future.
The currency was trading at $1,019.05 this morning compared with highs of more than $1,200 last week.
Bitcoin transactions are gathered into so-called "blocks", and developers have been arguing over the size limit of a block for nearly two years. Currently, there is a one-megabyte maximum on processing batches of transactions, but some in the industry want to increase the size as the network capacity increases. Others in the community say increasing the block size would be unsafe.
Last week the price of the currency held relatively steady as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected a bitcoin exchange-traded fund's (ETF) bid to list.
The SEC said the ETF, founded by the Winklevoss twins, posed a fraud risk as there's a lack of regulation in the world's bitcoin markets.
Approval of the fund would have been a major step towards making bitcoin mainstream.
Traders of the cryptocurrency are holding out hope, however, as there are several more bitcoin decisions planned over the coming months.
Read more: Bitcoin's back over $1,200 again
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Bitcoin is back above $1000 after plunging below $950 over the weekend - City A.M.
Bitcoin Price Plunges on Fears of a Currency Split – WSJ – Wall Street Journal (subscription)
Wall Street Journal (subscription) | Bitcoin Price Plunges on Fears of a Currency Split - WSJ Wall Street Journal (subscription) Bitcoin shed about a fifth of its value over the weekend as an increasingly bitter split in the developer community behind the virtual currency threatened to literally ... Bitcoin Unlimited: Mining Power Should Determine Hard Fork Outcome Bitcoin price plunges on fear of currency split Looming Currency Split Drops Bitcoin Price |
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Bitcoin Price Plunges on Fears of a Currency Split - WSJ - Wall Street Journal (subscription)
Bitcoin Prepares For an Ugly Breakup – Fortune
On Friday, a group of major cryptocurrency exchanges announced their planned response to the split of bitcoin into two separate pools of currency and processing power. That event, known as a hard fork, is viewed as increasingly likely among bitcoin leaders, as a years-long debate about the networks technical limitations and broader vision comes to a head.
The marketplaces, including marquee portals BitStamp and Kraken, said on Friday that if a hard fork occurs, they will let users trade both conventional bitcoin, and any alternate version that emerges. The most likely bitcoin spinoff is known as Bitcoin Unlimited, which the worlds largest bitcoin server group, or mining pool, recently announced it would back .
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Bitcoin has been pushed to the verge of this split by a years-long debate about whats known as block size . Under bitcoins existing code, theres a tight limit on the amount of data that can be included in a batch of transactions, and as the network has grown in popularity, that limit has slowed the processing of payments. Moves that once took seconds to clear can now take hours, and all players seem to agree that some sort of change is necessary.
But there are competing visions about any fixs goals and methods. One bitcoin entrepreneur has summarized the divide as between a Bitcoin Unlimited contingent updating bitcoin to support many small transactions, and a Bitcoin Core cadre who believe in smaller changes, fewer transactions, and more stability.
The decentralized, even anarchistic nature of bitcoin administration makes the process of change unwieldy. Bitcoin hosts (miners) essentially vote on any system changes by choosing what software to run. But if large groups choose to run mutually incompatible code, they generate separate transaction records, and in essence, entirely separate pools of currency.
Currently, according to Silicon Angle, nearly 40% of bitcoin miners support Bitcoin Unlimitednot enough to force a system-wide changeover to the new protocol, but enough to establish a splinter group.
The exchanges announcement may help smooth the potential chaos of a hard fork. The crypto world got a preview last year when Ethereum, a major bitcoin alternative, underwent a planned fork to reverse the results of a multimillion dollar hack . That unexpectedly led to two competing systems , which reportedly interfered with one another's operations.
If bitcoins big players want to go their separate ways, then, some advance planning seems very healthy.
Chinese Regulators Propose Rules for Bitcoin Exchanges: Report – CryptoCoinsNews
The Peoples Bank of China (PBOC) has proposed revisions to its anti-money laundering (AML) requirements for bitcoin exchanges, according to Zhou Xuedong, director of the National Peoples Congress and the banks department of business administration, according to Finance New Media.
Despite recent actions with virtual currency exchanges, the central bank has not laid out any clear set of regulations upon the bitcoin industry in the country.
Xuedong has called for China to look at regulatory efforts toward bitcoin internationally to establish a regulatory mechanism for the industry.
Under the rules established in 2013, there are no know your customer (KYC) requirements. There was a requirement concerning bit currency risk for trading platforms to identify users identities, including real name, registration name, identity card numbers and other information.
The proposed change includes two aspects regarding AML. One is to establish an AML structure to improve AML, anti-terrorism financing and an internal control system. Another is to clarify the platforms obligations, including prevention and control measures. Such measures would include customer identity information, a system for preserving transaction records and a system for recording suspicious transactions.
Virtual platforms will need to have on-site certification. The trading platform will have to follow the KYC principle and establish a system for customer identification. When users of virtual currency make withdrawals and redemptions, they will be required to have a valid identity document. Customers applying for counterfeit goods, virtual goods and the equivalent of more than 50,000 yuan should provide remote video certification.
The customer for the first time would be required to have presence certification.
In addition to making detailed requests for customer identification, the proposal stipulates that the platform should develop senior management personnel responsible for AML and anti-terrorism financing, and establish specialized agencies and positions and an internal control system.
The platform should properly store customer identity information and transactions to ensure complete and accurate reproduction of each transaction.
The proposal also includes a list of suspicious transactions to focus on. Should a transaction involve criminal activities like money laundering, the platform should report it to the central bank business management department.
Xuedong said the whereabouts of funds can be learned from the blockchain technology.
Also read: Report: China should clarify bottom line of bitcoin exchange supervision
Since the beginning of January 2017, the Peoples Bank of Beijing, Shanghai and other branches of the joint local financial regulatory authorities have carried out on-site inspections of exchanges that found the AML internal control system is not perfect.
On January 11, the Shanghai and Beijing branches of the PBOC conducted on-site checks of three bitcoin exchanges, sending prices crashing. Exchanges in the country began enforcing sweeping changes, beginning with halting leveraged or loan-based trading of the cryptocurrency between platforms a week after the PBOC became involved. On January 24, Chinese exchanges ended zero-fee trading and began charging a flat 0.2 percent fee of the value of the transaction.
The central bank continued its investigation of Chinese bitcoin exchanges in February. A closed door meeting with a number of domestic exchanges took place on February 8.
On February 9, a notice was issued to upgrade the AML system and that the standard development and implementation period was expected to be one month.
On March 8, anotice mentioned the need to address AML, foreign exchange management, payment settlement and other financial regulations.
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Chinese Regulators Propose Rules for Bitcoin Exchanges: Report - CryptoCoinsNews
Bitcoin Price Weekly Analysis BTC/USD To Escalate Declines – newsBTC
Bitcoin price has started a downside move after failing near $1180 on many occasions against the US Dollar, and BTC/USD now could extend losses.
Bitcoin price has started a downside move after failing near $1180 on many occasions against the US Dollar, and BTC/USD now could extend losses.
This past week we saw a decline in BTC price due to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissions verdict on the Bitcoin ETF request. The price moved down, but was seen later recovering above $1050. However, there were many attempts by the price to settle above $1200. It failed every time to settle above the $1180 and $1200 levels. As a result, a decline was initiated in Bitcoin price. It moved down below $1050, and settled below the stated level.
I think the most important close was below $1100. It is a major pivot, and a crucial support. So, a close below $1100 is a bearish sign, and might call for more losses in the near term. The price eve traded below $1000 recently, and currently recovering. On the upside, an initial resistance is near 38.2% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $1172 high to $936 low.
There is also a bearish line on the 4-hours chart (data feed from SimpleFX) of BTC/USD with resistance near $1100. The most important hurdle is near the 50% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $1172 high to $936 low. So, selling rallies may be considered in the near term.
Looking at the technical indicators:
4-hours MACD The MACD is now well into the bearish slope.
4-hours RSI (Relative Strength Index) The RSI is well below the 50 level, and suggesting bearish signs.
Major Support Level $980
Major Resistance Level $1075
Charts courtesy SimpleFX
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Bitcoin Price Weekly Analysis BTC/USD To Escalate Declines - newsBTC
Jihan Wu Wants To Accelerate The Bitcoin Unlimited Hard Fork Regardless of Community Sentiment – newsBTC
Last but not least, speeding up the BU hard fork can be seen as a replay attack against the network.
Jihan Wu is known for expressing strong opinions on bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Ever since he pledged support to Bitcoin Unlimited, though, he has come a bit unhinged. In a recent tweet, he proposes to speed up the BU hard fork. The reason for doing so is the future contract on Bitfinex which is seemingly offensive towards big block supporters.
It is evident there is something brewing in the Bitcoin Unlimited community. A lot of recent statements have caused quite a stir, and things dont improve anytime soon. Accelerating the hard fork is the last thing bitcoin needs right now, yet that is exactly what Jihan Wu proposes. His reasons for stating such things are rather odd, though. Moreover, this tweet indicates how desperate the BU supporters are getting right now.
The hard fork in question is met with a lot of resistance from bitcoin enthusiasts. The decision to introduce such a hard fork is utterly reckless. Moreover, support for these plans is less strong as some people like to think. This does not bode well for BUs chances of success either. Accelerating one of the most controversial decisions in bitcoins history is not the right course of action. At the same time, it highlights the fanaticism found within Bitcoin Unlimited right now.
There is a lot more at stake than just creating two separate bitcoin solutions, though. If a hard fork of this kind occurs, trust in cryptocurrency will be reduced to an all-time low. In fact, economists feel it may cripple bitcoin as a whole and push down the price to pre-2013 levels once again. It is evident the BU supporters do not care about this one bit, and Jihan Wu is certainly not concerned about the consequences right now.
It is evident the market does not want a hard fork, nor does the majority of the bitcoin community. Ever since BU started uttering threats to the bitcoin network, the BTC price has fallen sharply. Since BU is supported by a lot of early bitcoin investors, they could care less about losing some portfolio value right now. It doesnt matter to them how these plans affect the rest of the community. If the hard fork tanks the price, people like Jihan Wu will not lose any sleep over it.
Last but not least, speeding up the BU hard fork can be seen as a replay attack against the network. If Unlimited wants a fair chance at succeeding, accelerating the fork is the last thing they need to do. It seems there a cult-like mentality among BU supporters which makes them say irrational things. Unfortunately, such rogue elements can impact the entire bitcoin ecosystem with relative ease. Some enthusiasts want BU to hard fork right now so this entire debacle becomes a non-to issue, albeit it is doubtful things will play out that way.
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Experimenting with Bitcoin on Your Honeymoon – CryptoCoinsNews
A couples honeymoon might not seem the time to undertake a social experiment, with the digital currency Bitcoin, but thats exactly what one soon-to-be-married couple are planning when they tie the knot at the end of the month.
On 28 March, 2017, South African residents Wilhelm Lehmann and Natasha Bezuidenhout are due to get married and just like most newlyweds theyll be enjoying their time together on their honeymoon.
For them, this is the perfect time to demonstrate the real-life value of Bitcoin.
Speaking to CCN, Lehmann, a telecoms and IT specialist, who has used Bitcoin extensively and whose hobbies include cryptography and firearms, said that he has been following Bitcoin since its inception, concluding that it might be possible to live solely using the currency. He adds that this is a challenge he wants to prove after the honeymoon challenge.
He said that if the experiment is successful it will further boost his view of it as a real-world currency, which he hopes to explain in his whitepaper after the honeymoon.
It would prove you can travel to multiple countries using a single currency stored virtually in the cloud, so you dont have to worry about losing credit cards [or] cash being stolen.
The couple is planning to travel for a week to Zanzibar, Mauritius and South Africa. Using Bitcoin Core, Electrum and paper wallets, Lehmann says that he plans on pre-booking everything, choosing vendors that use payment processors that accept the digital currency.
However, while many may consider this too short a time to determine the currencys value in day-to-day expenses, Lehmann says how much they can do depends on the availability of Bitcoin that they are hoping friends and family will put toward their honeymoon fund.
He states:
Currently our main challenge is getting enough Bitcoin together to pay for our honeymoon.
Bitcoin is one of the quickest growing digital currencies with a market cap value of just over $20 billion. Ethereum, in second place, is valued at just under $3 billion.
With one Bitcoin currently valued around $1,248, a slight drop from its previous high of $1,350, after the SEC rejected the approval of the first ETF, the currency is demonstrating that despite setbacks it is much stronger than previously thought.
Not only that, but the currency is illustrating its ease of use, which millions of people are experiencing.
Lehmann states:
People are moving to convenience, and online transactions are more common every day.
He adds that as a backup hell be taking his credit cards with him as he says he cant let our honeymoon be spoiled because the spa wont take Bitcoin for a massage. He concludes, though, that this would be a last resort if there was no way of getting what they needed with the currency.
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