Tag: verge

Crypto Week in Review — Bitcoin, Ethereum, Verge, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ripple Struggle

Crypto Week in Review — Bitcoin, Ethereum, Verge, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ripple Struggle

It has certainly been an up-and-down week for cryptocurrencies. Things started out relatively peaceful when allegations arose that the currency had somehow dominated its incoming “death cross,” and that the slump users had been witnessing over the past several days may be coming to end. This seemed to hold true when Bitcoin rose from $6,900 to $7,100 — a $200 jump from where it had long stood.

All Barricades Defied?

the currency rose to just under $7,500 following the announcement that Coincheck — one of Japan’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange platforms and the recent victim of a hack that saw over $500 million in NEM stolen last January — would likely be “rescued” by Tokyo-based exchange Monex Group.

The company issued a formal statement saying that it was in talks with Coincheck about a possible “takeover,” and that a deal could be reached by the end of the week. This sent the price of bitcoin surging, as hope and enthusiasm once again found themselves fluttering through the cryptocurrency arena.

This positivity was short-lived, however, as a near $600 drop in the price occurred the following day, and bitcoin fell to about $6,800. Now, the coin has settled for $100 less and is trading at approximately $6,800, suggesting that the currency is holding its ground, but has undoubtedly been affected by recent trends.

 

There appear to be several reasons for the latest drop, one being a hack that occurred on Verge’s blockchain.

Verge is a privacy-oriented cryptocurrency, and it’s alleged that hackers may have implemented several bugs in its system to walk off with anywhere between $15,000 and $1 million in company coins (sources differ greatly in how much the amount totals).

While the attack took place on an altcoin, the story raises several questions. Verge’s blockchain requires a proof-of-work validation mechanism, much like Bitcoin and Ethereum, which makes users wonder if these latter blockchains are also vulnerable to similar bugs and malware.

Larger news stemming from India likely took a larger toll on the coin’s position and current pricing. The country’s of India’s Reserve Bank has hinted that it plans to potentially ban Bitcoin trading on a whole while building its own digital currency. This has led to negative reactions among residents, who claim that a national virtual currency wouldn’t necessarily be threatened by Bitcoin and other forms of crypto.

The move could be especially damaging considering India accounts for roughly 10 percent of the world’s cryptocurrency trades. A full ban on Bitcoin by India may wind up affecting not only users but the country’s financial stability in the global blockchain market.

Not Much Help from “Experts”

In addition, several other leading cryptocurrencies have also experienced serious drops in their prices. Ethereum is down to about $380, while Bitcoin Cash is hovering at just over $630. Ripple is hovering around $0.50. Litecoin is trading at a new low of approximately $116.

Thus far, we have experienced mixed reactions from analysts, some of whom claim Bitcoin could encounter a solid bull run by the year’s end. Others feel that the coin’s final days are near, and the bubble surrounding Bitcoin has officially been popped.

 

Author Nick Marinoff April 6, 2018

 

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur

 

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Bitcoin’s Smaller Cousins Are Leading the Crypto Rally

Bitcoin's Smaller Cousins Are Leading the Crypto Rally

Bitcoin’s Smaller Cousins Are Leading the Crypto Rally

Bitcoin’s smaller cousins are outpacing the largest cryptocurrency’s gains since major U.S. exchanges started offering futures.

The biggest gainers among digital assets with at least $1 billion of market capitalization in the past seven days are so-called alternative coins Verge, Tron, Qtum and Cardano, soaring at least 300 percent. Despite some wild price swings, bitcoin’s price is mostly flat since Cboe Group Markets Inc. and CME Group Inc. made the derivatives available in the past two weeks.

“People were really excited about the futures coming in and bitcoin really rallied leading up to that,” Joe Van Hecke, managing partner at Chicago-based Grace Hall Trading LLC, said in a telephone interview from Charlotte, North Carolina. “Bitcoin’s been on a massive rally and the other coins are just now catching up as it takes a breather. Additionally some positive press around some of them added to the rally. ”

Smaller Coins Have Bigger Gains

Bitcoin's smaller rivals are outpacing the largest cryptocurrency

smaller coins have bigger gains

Here’s a primer on these lesser known digital tokens. Most of them try to improve on the very things some see as positive in bitcoin; for those who don’t like to broadcast their transactions on a public blockchain, some platforms are offering untraceable transfers. And if you’re uneasy with the fact that bitcoin can’t be easily regulated, there’s a coin to fix that too. There’s even a blockchain-less cryptocurrency that tries to eliminate fees.

Verge

Verge aims to provide individuals and businesses with fast, efficient and decentralized transactions, which was bitcoin’s original purpose, but wants to improve on bitcoin by maintaining personal privacy, using anonymity-centric networks such as Tor, obfuscating IP addressees and making transactions "completely untraceable," according to its website. Verge, with a market cap of $1.07 billion, is up more than 1,000 percent in the past week.

Tron

Tron, operated by the Singapore-based Tron Foundation, wants to build a “worldwide free content entertainment system” based on the blockchain, according to its website. The protocol allows users to freely publish, store and own data, enabling them to decide how the content gets distributed and at what cost. Payments would be made in cryptocurrencies including tron’s coin. Tron, with a market cap of $3.1 billion, is up 340 percent in the past week.

Qtum

Qtum wants to be the public ledger for business. The open-source blockchain project wants to combine the reliability of bitcoin’s blockchain with the flexibility of smart contracts of the ethereum network, according to its website. That combination will allow it to provide stability for business applications. Qtum Foundation, which develops the project, is based in Singapore. Qtum has a market cap of $5.1 billion and is up 262 percent in the past week.

Cardano

Cardano, backed by the Zug, Switzerland-based Cardano Foundation, is a decentralized public blockchain that aims to protect user privacy, while also allowing for regulation. Cardano is a multi-layer protocol; the settlement layer will have a unit of account, while the control layer will run smart contracts and will be programmed to recognize identity, assisting compliance, according to its website. The system is designed to be upgraded so that it can evolve quickly. Cardano has a market cap of $14 billion, and is up 348 percent in the past week.

Other cryptocurrencies making waves because of their longer-term price moves and new developments:

Monero

Monero is a decentralized cryptocurrency that focuses on privacy, hiding the origins, amounts, and destinations of all transactions. Monero on Dec. 5 announced that more than 35 artists, including Mariah Carey, Lana del Rey and Marilyn Manson, will start accepting the cryptocurrency on their online stores. Monero’s price has more than quadrupled to over $420 in the past two months.

Iota

Iota is a cryptocurrency backed by a distributed ledger that’s not on a blockchain. Instead the network is called a "tangle" and aims to eliminate fees by creating a decentralized peer-to-peer system. Iota’s tokens have been on a rollercoaster, rallying on a statement on its blog that seemed to imply a partnership with Microsoft Corp., and then plunging after the platform clarified it’s not in a formal agreement with the tech giant. Iota’s price has soared from less than a dollar a month ago to more than $5, climbing to become the sixth biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, right after litecoin.

 

Author Camila Russo 20 December 2017, 15:37 GMT

 

Posted By David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency entrepreneur

 

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member