Tag: monero

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Monero Prices Surge--Is The Train Leaving The Station Again

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Monero Prices Surge–Is The Train Leaving The Station Again

Shaking off a host of negative news, major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and Monero continued to surge recently. Bitcoin is up 2.05% over the last 24 hours and 17.53% over the last seven days, Ethereum is up 1.95% and 21.74% over the same periods, while Ripple and Monero registered even higher gains—see table 1.

Table 1

7d Price Change For Major Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrency %24h %7d

Bitcoin 2.05 17.53

Ethereum 1.95 21.74

Ripple 5.47 37.56

Monero 14.45 35.84

Source: Coinmarketcap.com 4/18/18 at 4:30 p.m.

The cryptocurrency rally comes as markets shake off a host of negative news ranging from regulators cranking down on cryptocurrency exchanges to large Bitcoin sales by major investors, and tax sell-offs, and extends across the entire chain, with 96 out of the top 100 cryptocurrencies advancing—see table 2.

Table 2

Number of Cryptocurrencies That Advanced/Declined In The Top 100 Ranks

Cryptocurrencies Advance/Decline Number

Advance 96

Decline 4

Source: Coinmarketcap.com 4/18/18 at 4:30 a.m.

Does this mean that the cryptocurrency train is leaving the station?

Todd Rowan, President and CEO of Rewardstoken.io, thinks so.“Bitcoin is the current engine pulling the crypto train,” said Rowan.“It seems to have found traction post-tax season selloffs; this is good for everyone. Ethereum is finding strong support along with Ripple and others. Next week will tell us if we are leaving the station. We could be off for another bull run.”

Ben WayCEO of Digits.io also thinks so. For ICO’s with real value, that is. “The train has definitely left the station for entrepreneurs trying to do an ICO on the back of a napkin,” he says. “However just like the shakeout in the dot-com bust, the ICO's with real value and real technology and concepts will be in good shape…..this happens in almost every market at some point, next we will see the same in AI and Robotics.”

Michael Collins, Founder and CEO of GN Compass, is bullish on Bitcoin and Cardano. “After a four-month bear, there are now strong indications that we are heading towards a bull,” he notes. “Bitcoin dropping to about $6600 on the 5th of this month was probably the bottom for the year, its price will continue to climb and will probably hit a peak of $15,000 this year. Other coins are following suit with Cardano being the most impressive so far.”

And Roman Guelfi-GibbsCEO, Lead Systems DesignerPinnacle Brilliance Systems Inc. thinks that investors have little time to get aboard the cryptocurrency train. “Investors have some time to make up their minds before the train leaves the station, but they will have to decide soon,” hesays. Guelfi-Gibbs sees Bitcoin heading to 10k, once crossing the $8500 mark.

What about Ethereum? “Ethereum has been recovering nicely over the past two weeks and was able to surmount the $500 hurdle,” notes Guelfi-Gibbs. “Whereas Bitcoin has been subject to some while swings, Ethereum has been moving steadily upward. I would expect that trend to continue after a brief pullback to support.”

Panos Mourdoukoutas , CONTRIBUTOR

Posted by David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Bitcoin, Ripple, And Litecoin Sell-off — What’s Different This Time Around

February 1, 2018

Bitcoin, Ripple, And Litecoin Sell-off - What's Different This Time Around

Bitcoin, Ripple, And Litecoin Sell-off — What's Different This Time Around

The current sell-off in Bitcoin, Ripple, Litecoin, and other cryptocurrencies may have a long way to go before it’s over. For a “technical” reason: it’s broad, extending from major currencies to the smaller ones.

When Bitcoin dropped close to 40% back in the middle of December, Ripple rallied, quadrupling in value in just a few days. The rally quickly spread to Ethereum, Litecoin, NEM, Siacoin and Bytecoin, and other cryptocurrencies.

Then, as Ripple and other cryptocurrencies sold off a couple of weeks later, Bitcoin rallied.

There’s a good explanation behind the rotation among cryptocurrencies. Some cryptocurrency exchanges require Bitcoins to pay for coin transactions. So investors who already owned Bitcoins had to sell them to pay for those transactions.

Rotation from one coin to another isn’t new to investing. It has been applied on Wall Street for years, where investors rotate funds between “defensive” and “cyclical stocks,” at times when interest rates, i.e. the “opportunity cost” of money, remain low.

That’s bullish for stocks, because it confirms that money is staying within this asset class rather than moving back into money market investments.

And that was a bullish sign for cryptocurrencies back then, too.

But that’s not what is happening this time around. With the exception of Ethereum, all major cryptocurrencies are down simultaneously. In the last seven days, Bitcoin is down 10.10%, Ripple is down 17.23%, and Litecoin is down 10.40%; and all are 50% or more below their all-time high back in December.

Table 1

Seven-Day Price Change For Major Cryptocurrencies

Source:Coinmarketcap.com 1/31/18 at 1.30pm

Worse, the sell-off has been extending across the entire cryptocurrency list—see table.

Table 2

Source: Coinmarketcap.com1/31/18 at 1.30pm

This means that money getting out of major cryptocurrencies isn’t being plowed back into other cryptocurrencies. It is leaving the entire asset class.

That’s bearish for all cryptocurrencies.

And that’s what’s different with the sell-off in major cryptocurrencies this time around.

Panos Mourdoukoutas , CONTRIBUTOR

David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

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Masked thugs stick up investor at GUN POINT in FIRST UK cryptocurrency robbery

January 29, 2018

Masked thugs stick up investor at GUN POINT in FIRST UK cryptocurrency robbery

BITCOIN'S price is down again this morning after a report this weekend of a gunpoint robbery where a city financier was targeted at his home and forced to transfer money to armed robbers.

Bitcoin's price is down $480 to $11,217 at the time of press as the crypto community responds to the deluge of regulatory threats coming from Davos last week, and a gunpoint robbery in a picturesque Oxfordshire village on Monday, revealed in the Sunday papers.

Last Monday, in the quaint village of Moulsford in South Oxfordshire, four armed robbers forced their way into the home of a City of London finance chief and forced him to transfer an unknown quantity of bitcoin, worth around $10,000 at the time.

Wearing balaclavas, the Mail on Sunday reported that the men kicked down the front door and forced their way into the home of Danny Aston, 30.

The armed men reportedly tied up a woman and kept a baby outside in a pram while forcing Mr Aston to transfer the bitcoin.

A woman said: "I saw four young men in black tracksuits with the hoods pulled up, crossing the road to the property where it took place."

She added: "They were aged 18 to 25, dark-skinned and super-fit. They jumped over the fence on the other side of the road. I didn’t see any gun, but that’s what people locally are saying — and that the men wore balaclavas which I didn’t see either, just the hoodies pulled up."

Chief Executive of Explain The Market, Mark Shone, said: “These are criminals who have likely caught on to the current popularity of Bitcoin.

“But depending on how much they have, these coins are like being in possession of a rare painting. Trying to exchange large amounts for normal money without alerting suspicion will be very difficult.”

A police spokesman said: “Officers were called at about 9.40am to a report that offenders had entered a residential property off Reading Road and threatened the occupants.

“No one was seriously injured during the incident.

“Officers are particularly interested in speaking to anyone travelling through the village on the A329 Reading Road between 7.30am and 10.30am on Monday who has dashcam footage, or anyone with mobile-phone footage.

“The investigation is in its early stages, however initial inquiries suggest this may be a targeted incident.

“No arrests have been made at this stage and anyone with any information relating to the incident is asked to call Thames Valley Police on the non-emergency number 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”

Bitcoin transactions provide anonymity to users and so has been used for criminal activity such as buying illicit items on the dark web.

Bitcoin also provides anonymity for scammers as the virtual currency does not pass through any banking institution and consumers cannot stop payment like they can with a credit card.

Cyberfraud, drug dealing, prostitution, gun-running and other major crime profits are being ploughed into the internet currencies.

Drug pedlars are using high street bitcoin ATM machines, of which there are 77 in the UK, to deposit cash from deals.

Gangsters are not only hiding money from the police, they are also making fortunes from the rise in the value of virtual currencies, according to the Met Police.

Head of Scotland Yard’s Serious and Organised Crime Command Detective Chief Superintendent Mick Gallagher said gangs have turned to cryptocurrencies.

He said: “At the moment, it feels like there is significant growth.”

Online criminals prefer the added privacy of some of bitcoin’s competitors as forensic firm Chainalysis said the amount of bitcoin is being used on the Dark Web has fallen from 30 per cent to one per cent.

Instead cybercriminals are turning to other digital currencies.

Philip Gradwell, Chief Economist at Chainalysis said: “In the last few months, there has been a rapid increase in the use of Monero, likely for illicit means.

“Whether Monero grows further, to displace bitcoin as the crypto-crime currency, depends on its adoption by new darknet markets, which are emerging following recent shutdowns, and improvements in the user experience of buying and transacting in Monero.”

It comes as the FBI issued a stark warning about an online scam in which people are threatened with death unless they hand over all of their bitcoin.

Investigators said the emails are carefully designed so that even educated professionals can be lured in.

FBI agent Laura Eimiller said it is a new spin on extortion.

Agent Eimiller said: “The chances are if you are online, you will be victimised not once, not twice, but multiple times.”

By DAVID DAWKINS and MATT DRAKE UPDATED: 08:00, Mon, Jan 29, 2018

Posted bu David Ogden Entrepeneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

The Bull And The Bear Case For Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, And Other Cryptocurrencies

January 22, 2018

The Bull And The Bear Case For Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, And Other Cryptocurrencies

There have been better days and worse days for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, and other cryptocurrencies.

The better days were back in November and December when a “virtuous” rotation helped spread the rally from Bitcoin to other cryptocurrencies. This means that funds cashed out from one currency were invested in other currencies.

That’s a bullish "technical" sign for cryptocurrencies, as it keeps the momentum for the sector alive.

[Ed note: Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment. Disclosure: I don't own any cryptocoins or tokens.]

The worse days were early this week when the sell-off in major cryptocurrencies spread across the entire sector. This means that money cashed out from one cryptocurrency didn’t flow to other cryptocurrencies, but moved to cash or to other investments.

And that’s a bearish sign for cryptocurrencies, as it undermines the momentum for the sector.

Apparently, momentum is changing very fast in cryptocurrencies, much faster than in other asset classes.

That’s why technical analysis alone may not be a reliable indicator for trying to guess the direction of the cryptocurrency markets.

What about fundamental analysis?

For the vast majority of cryptocurrencies there are no fundamentals to talk about, other than a website with a message that promises to make capitalism better.

For major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, there’s some information to make both a bullish and a bearish case.

The bullish case is about the advantages Bitcoin has a “headless” currency. "Increasingly widely accepted as a means of payment with no bank intermediation and absolutely no fees, Bitcoin has some of the attributes of a headless currency,” says Eric Pichet, a KEDGE professor.

Then there’s the rarity of the cryptocurrency and the low ownership rate, which explain its price spike, and the potential for further gains. “The relative rarity of the virtual product explains its rise in large part because only 0.01% of the world population own any,” adds Pichet. “Therefore, one can imagine the effect on its trading price if the primary cause of speculative bubbles, namely FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) were to spread to a mere 1% of the world population, or 100 times more holders.”

The bearish scenario centers on two major threats which cryptocurrencies face. One of them is an intrusion in the blockchain system and the circulation of fake coins. Another threat is a concerted effort by governments around the world to ban their use.

As Eric Pichet concludes, "Under these conditions, what type of needles would burst the bubble? The first would be the heist of the century: an intrusion in the blockchain system that created a deluge of fake bitcoins. The second would be the adoption of a common position by all national governments and central banks to prohibit this means of payment in the name of fighting fraud, for example.”

Author Panos Mourdoukoutas

Posted By David Ogden Entrepreneur
David ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, IOTA, Litecoin, Dash, Monero: Price Analysis, Dec. 30

December 31, 2017

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, IOTA, Litecoin, Dash, Monero

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, IOTA, Litecoin, Dash, Monero: Price Analysis, Dec. 30

Cryptocurrencies have generated wealth for the traders like no other asset class. While Bitcoin has garnered most of the attention, it is not the only one to have risen in 2017. There have been scores of winners.

Ethereum was the second leading currencies aiming to overtake Bitcoin as the dominant leader of the year; it could never really achieve the feat.

However, within the past two weeks, Ripple has skyrocketed from a low of $0.22 on Dec. 10, to a high of $2.47 today. That’s a whopping rally of 1024 percent within a span of 20 days.

As a result, Ripple has now overtaken Ethereum as the second most valuable currency by market capitalization.

Bitcoin’s dominance, which had risen above 60 percent just a few weeks back has again cooled off to 38.3 percent.

As the market matures, we are likely to see a number of changes in the rankings of these currencies. Therefore, one has to keep an open mind towards all the cryptocurrencies because as traders; our main goal is to earn money.

So, do we have any good buy setups for the end of the year or is it best to remain on the sidelines and enjoy the holidays, returning to trade in the new year? Let’s find out.

BTC/USD

We expected a pullback from the trendline, however, due to lack of buyers, the recovery never gained strength. Today, the bears easily broke below the trendline support, which has escalated the selling.

Bitcoin has broken down of the neckline of the bearish head and shoulders pattern. If the cryptocurrency sustains below the neckline, it has a pattern target of $5,745.

However, we don’t expect to see such a plunge in the short-term.

We believe that the bulls will attempt to defend the recent lows of $10,704.99. But if they fail, the bears are likely to intensify their selling. A number of long positions will start to bleed, which is likely to lead to panic selling. We see another support at the $8,000 mark.

All these lower levels will come into play only if the BTC/USD pair breaks and sustains below the 50-day SMA.

Contrarily, if the bears are unable to breakdown of the 50-day SMA, we may see a recovery in the new year. Yet, we will prefer to wait until the digital currency breaks out of the downtrend line to initiate any position. We don’t find any trades at the current price.

ETH/USD

We mentioned that Ethereum will become positive in the short-term only on a breakout and close above the downtrend line. Yesterday, the bulls broke out of the trendline but could not manage a close above it.

On the downside, the 20-day EMA has been providing a strong support. If this support level breaks, we may see a slide towards $646.08 and thereafter to $600 levels. On the other hand, the ETH/USD pair will become positive above $770 because it has returned from the $760 levels on three occasions.

Between the 20-day EMA and $760, we are likely to witness a volatile range-bound trading action.

Therefore, we suggest waiting until we get a clear breakout and a confirmation of the resumption of the uptrend.

BCH/USD

For the past two days, the bulls had been defending the $2300 mark. But their attempt to resume the rally failed yesterday.

Today, the bears have broken down of the critical support level of $2300. The next downside target on the BCH/USD pair is a fall to the 50-day SMA.

We expect a strong buying around the $1,733 levels. Nonetheless, we recommend waiting until there is a clear bottom in sight.

Consider avoiding buying in a falling market.

XRP/USD

Ripple roared past our initial target objective of $1.5. Today, it reached an intraday high of $2.474.

Traders who had purchased on our bullish prediction should close their positions or at least trail with a close stop loss depending on their strategy.

After such a stellar rally, we expect the XRP/USD pair to enter into a correction or a consolidation. Therefore, we don’t have any fresh buy recommendations on it.

IOTA/USD

The bulls have successfully held on to the lower end of the range at $3.032 for the past few days. However, they have not been able to push the cryptocurrency higher.

Today, the IOTA/USD pair is again under a bear attack, which is threatening to break below the critical support. If the bears succeed, the cryptocurrency will fall to the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement level of $2.62196.

Yet, if the bulls manage to hold the supports once again today, IOTA will continue to trade inside the range. We shall initiate buy positions only on a breakout and close above the downtrend line. Until then, we shall remain on the sidelines.

LTC/USD

The bears have broken below the neckline of the head and shoulders pattern. Unless the bulls stage takes a sharp recovery today, chances are that Litecoin will continue lower in the next few days.

We anticipate a strong support at the recent lows of $175.199. The 50-day SMA is also just below this level, which should also provide some support.

However, if both these levels fail to hold, the LTC/USD pair will fall towards $110, which is the target objective of the breakdown of the head and shoulders pattern.

Our bearish view will be invalidated if the bulls manage to push the digital currency above the neckline at $240.

DASH/USD

For the past two days, the bulls managed to hold on to the 20-day EMA. But today, the bears have broken below the moving average support.

Dash has a strong support at the trendline. We expect the bulls to strongly defend this level.

Though we shall avoid buying until we get a confirmation of a bottom formation because if the trendline breaks, the DASH/USD pair can fall to $800 and thereafter to $650 levels.

XMR/USD

We were expecting a range-bound trading action in Monero. Despite that, the bears have taken control and have broken below the 20-day EMA today, which is a bearish development.

The immediate support on Monero is at $300. If this level breaks down, we are likely to see the decline extend to the recent lows of $245.1. The 50-day SMA is also at this level. Just below there is the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement level of $230.66.

We expect a strong support in this zone. At the same time, we don’t suggest buying until the fall is arrested.

When the markets are in a bear grip, it is a good strategy to wait until the decline ends, instead of being brave and attempting to catch a falling knife.

Author: Rakesh Upadhyay

Posted By David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Bitcoin’s Smaller Cousins Are Leading the Crypto Rally

December 21, 2017

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

Markethive

Bitcoin Price Storms to $5,955 as Bitcoin Gold Fizzles

October 27, 2017

Bitcoin Price Storms to $5,955 as Bitcoin Gold Fizzles

The crypto markets experienced a moderate recovery on Thursday, as the bitcoin price began to recover from the dip that it entered following the Bitcoin Gold hard fork. Many altcoins achieved slight price bumps as well, enabling the total cryptocurrency market cap to rise above the $172 billion mark.

Chart from CoinMarketCap

Early in the day, it appeared that the markets were heading south, continuing their movement from the previous day. However, they began to tick up on Wednesday afternoon, and the crypto market cap currently sits at $172.5 billion, which represents a 24-hour increase of $5.1 billion.

Chart from CoinMarketCap

Bitcoin Price Recovers Near $6,000

The recovery was fueled by a 7.5% bitcoin price rise. After beginning the day in decline, the bitcoin price consolidated support at the $5,485 mark and reversed its trajectory leading into Thursday morning. At present, the bitcoin price is trading at $5,955, which translates into a $99.1 billion market cap.

Bitcoin Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

It is not immediately clear what is fueling this march back toward $6,000, but many analysts believe it is an early phase of bitcoin’s eventual transformation into a mainstream asset. Standpoint Research’s Ronnie Moas, for instance, recently predicted that the bitcoin price will reach $50,000 over the course of the next decade.

Ethereum Price Stuck Below $300

The ethereum price made a minor gain on Thursday, advancing about seven-tenths of one percent to increase to a present value of $299. Nevertheless, it was unable to pierce the $300 mark or break out of that threshold’s gravitational pull. Ethereum maintains a market cap of about $28.5 billion.

Ethereum Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

‘Cash’ Rises as ‘Gold’ Fizzles

The bitcoin cash price outperformed the majority of top-tier cryptocurrencies on Thursday, rising as high as $347, although it has since tapered to $340. This is likely due to the dismal performance of Bitcoin Gold — another altcoin created from a Bitcoin fork — during its first few days on the exchanges.

Bitcoin Cash Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

Unlike Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold has virtually no community and institutional support, and that has been reflected in its declining price. After debuting near $500, the bitcoin gold price has plunged to $131 — even amid buy pressure from margin traders who needed to purchase it to pay back lenders — and this may worsen when the network officially launches and traders are able to begin making deposits on exchanges.

Bitcoin Gold Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

This bodes well for bitcoin cash, because industry observers theorize that subsequent forks of bitcoin will have diminishing returns and that the forked coins may cannibalize one another. Though it is still early, it appears that bitcoin cash will emerge the victor in this contest with bitcoin gold.

Altcoins Post Minor Gains

Altcoins — led by bitcoin cash — generally made gains on Thursday, although a few top 10 cryptocurrencies did not participate in the advance.

Chart from CoinMarketCap

The ripple price rose about one-half of one percent, but this was not enough to push XRP’s market cap back across the $8 billion threshold. The litecoin price increased 3%, while dash and NEM sat the rally out. Bitconnect led top 10 cryptocurrencies, posting a 12% increase that raised its price to $219, but the NEO price dropped below the $30 mark after a 4% pullback. Tenth-ranked monero achieved a minor gain, but its price continues to trade below $90.

Author Josiah Wilmoth on 26/10/2017

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Managing Enormous Risk — Bitcoin and Altcoin Investment Strategies

October 26, 2017

Managing Enormous Risk - Bitcoin and Altcoin Investment Strategies

Managing Enormous Risk — Bitcoin and Altcoin Investment Strategies

While some have made millions investing in digital currencies, others would call it degenerate gambling. If you’re reading this, then you know how exciting and unpredictable the crypto world is. Fortunes are built and demolished in seconds, new and exciting technology pops up every day, and controversy rules the land. It’s pretty much the Wild West of finance.

The unprecedented growth of cryptocurrencies has attracted investors from all walks of life, many of whom have been enticed by the staggering returns made by early investors. If this sounds like you, then keep reading. Unfortunately, we're not going to teach you how to get rich in a few days; in fact, we're going to try and deter you from that objective.

Not that we don’t want you to be super-rich, don’t get us wrong. But we prefer to have more grounded goals and we want you to do the same. Investment is a tricky game and the patient person usually wins. Avoiding “fear of missing out” (FOMO) is essential, especially in crypto, where disinformation, fake news and drama are commonplace.

So what exactly is the point of this article, you may wonder? Well, today, we want to give new players in the cryptosphere some ideas on how they can begin to navigate the tricky world of investment. We feel this is important due to the growing amount of scams and low quality projects out there.

We’re not saying that the strategies we discuss are foolproof or even profitable. They are not based on any mathematical formula nor were they devised by any experienced investment professional. These are simple ideas that are popular among entrants and old school digital currency investors alike.

It’s important to note that this article is not to be taken as investment advice and that you should always remember the golden rule of investment: Never invest more than what you can afford to lose.

Diversify and play it safe

This is a simple one. If your portfolio only has one coin on it, you’re doing it wrong. Now, we know some people will say Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency you should own, but at this point it’s safe to say that this is an absurd statement founded on feelings and ideals, rather than actual facts.

Bitcoin is thriving because it is the first and most popular cryptocurrency out there. It has the first mover advantage and it is also backed by an extensive network of miners who keep it safe. In terms of technology or features, however, Bitcoin falls short of its peers. We’re not saying you shouldn’t have Bitcoin, but you should also acknowledge other cryptocurrencies out there.

It may be a good idea to play it safe, however, and to “bet” on the most popular coins only, such as the top 10 by market capitalization. At present, those are: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Dash, NEM, NEO, BitConnect and Monero.

Bet on the idea, not the project

The world of Blockchain technology has evolved to a point where currency is just one of the many functions a cryptocurrency can have. There are smart contract platforms like Ethereum, NEO and Qtum, there are decentralized storage networks like Storj, Sia Coin and Filecoin and there are decentralized exchange platforms like Waves, Bitshares and others.

Our suggestion is, instead of buying one cryptocurrency in each category, you should spread your investment throughout multiple options inside each category. This will allow you to reduce the risk of investing in one single currency. In the world of crypto, a technical difficulty or even a grievance within one of the teams can lead to an rapid crash in the price, regardless of how promising the project and tech are. Just look at what happened with Tezos.

Hedging

Again, diversification is the name of the game. If you’re in crypto, then you are probably aware of how risky it all is. The cryptocurrency movement could end in days if some major security flaw was discovered or if all governments decided to ban them. The same can happen if some new and improved alternative to Blockchain technology comes along. These are, of course, worse case scenarios that are unlikely but possible nonetheless.

So, if you’re not one to have all your eggs in the same basket, you may want to extend your investment strategy to instruments outside of crypto. Precious metals, stocks, and other traditional investment vehicles may be a great addition to your portfolio and will allow you to reduce the risk you would take by investing in cryptocurrencies only.

Some companies, for example, manage cryptocurrency investment funds that combine cryptocurrency investments with investments in other sectors, like real estate. We talked to Kirill Bensonoff, CEO and founder of Caviar, about the importance of heeding your investment in the cryptocurrency space with traditional instruments.

He stated:

“We found a couple of major issues with crypto-asset investing, namely, it’s difficult and time consuming, and all assets are highly correlated. There is no ‘safety’ asset that also produces an income. We also see a movement towards having crypto be backed by traditional assets, such as gold, real estate and others, and we are addressing this head on.”

Liquidity, liquidity, liquidity

This is something that many new players forget about. You may find yourself investing in a cryptocurrency, having it increase in value several times over, only to realise that you can’t really sell it. If you try to sell large amounts at once, you’ll crash the price. Why? Because there is no liquidity. If a coin has no trading volume, significant price swings are bound to happen.

You can play it safe and avoid low volume coins all together but if you don’t want to, the least you can do is to know the risk you’re taking. CryptoCompare has a portfolio tool that allows you to analyse several risk factors in your portfolio, including volatility, exposure and, of course, liquidity. Their tool allows you to get an estimate of how long it would take to sell a certain coin based on the current volume. We asked Charles Hayter, CEO of CryptoCompare, why this tool is important for entrant users. He stated:

“We want to make it easy for users to track how well they're doing. Crypto is risky in the extreme and we want to help people understand where these risks lie and how to quantify them.”

Room to grow

Remember what we just told you about liquidity? Well, this strategy is somewhat contradictory, but it’s important to note that not all of these strategies are compatible with one another. Also, some involve more risk than others, and this one is risky. So, what do we mean with “room to grow”?

Small market cap cryptocurrencies have more growth potential than the ones at the top. Of course, other factors will determine if the price will rise or not but the idea is that, if you invest in cryptocurrencies before they are big, you may get to see your investment grow several times over.

Now, before you go to the nearest exchange and start stacking up on useless meme coins, have a think about what you want to buy. Then, perform your due diligence, check the roadmap, check the team, read the whitepaper, learn about the technology. Do everything in your power to ensure that your investment is justified. This will also make it easier for you to stick to your strategy, knowing that you are invested in something you believe in.

Technical analysis

Yes, chart wizardry. To be honest, I have no idea how it works and I admire anyone that does. All those numbers and lines give me headaches. Nevertheless, if you have it in you, learning T.A. can do wonders for your investment strategy even if you only touch the surface! We asked Jonathan Hobbs, CFA and author of the Stop Saving Start Investing: Ten Simple Rules for Effectively Investing in Funds investment book how technical analysis can be useful even for a newbie investor. He stated:

“Any good investment strategy needs rules. Technical Analysis (or “TA”) uses rules to look for price and volume patterns in charts to try and predict what’s going to happen next. It helps investors choose when to buy or sell. One example of TA is the Simple Moving Average (or “SMA”). The 50-day SMA, for instance, is the average price over the last 50 days, which changes or ‘moves’ each day. When an investment starts trading above its SMA, this is could be a bullish sign. Since TA can also protect the downside, it’s a good risk management tool for volatile investments like cryptocurrencies.”

Proof of Stake interest

A lot of people would love to invest in cryptocurrency mining, but at this point, you either go big or go home. Mining has become an industrialized practice reserved only for those with large financial backing, high tech equipment and access to low energy prices. Although there are several alternatives to traditional mining, Proof of Stake is the most relevant one for the subject at hand.

To put it simply, Proof of Stake allows users to “mine” coins without mining equipment. In this system, the amount of coins a user holds will determine how many coins he mines. Although most PoS cryptocurrencies will require you to leave your wallet running, some implementations of PoS like Waves and Lisk allow you to earn interest by leasing or delegating your stake.

Do note that you shouldn’t go out and buy every PoS coin out there. You should, however, check your holdings for these types of coins and, if you have them, mine them! In the worst case scenario, you’ll need to leave the wallet running which can be done with any laptop or even a Raspberry Pi device.

Author: Frisco d'Anconia

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Bitcoin Price Bounces Back, Crypto Markets Recover to $170 Billion

October 20, 2017

Bitcoin Price Bounces Back, Crypto Markets Recover to $170 Billion

The crypto markets bounced back on Thursday following a significant contraction the previous day. The bitcoin price led the charge, rising more than 6% to put the $5,700 barrier within its sights, while the ethereum price ticked up 3% to $309. Unfortunately, the recovery was not comprehensive, and some cryptocurrencies — including ripple — continued to decline.

Chart from CoinMarketCap

The downturn forced the total cryptocurrency market cap as far down as $156.5 million, which represented a one-week low. However, the markets began to recover Wednesday afternoon and quickly rose above $160 billion. They continued to climb leading into Thursday morning and have since risen to a present value of $169.7 billion.

Chart from CoinMarketCap

Bitcoin Price Bounces Back

Wednesday’s bitcoin price decline caught many investors by surprise, and it was difficult to ascertain what caused it, other than that traders were taking profits following last week’s rally. The pullback put severe downward pressure on the bitcoin price, which fell as low as $5,151. However, bitcoin held firm at this level, and support gradually began to return, enabling the flagship cryptocurrency to mount a successful recovery. Ultimately, the bitcoin price posted a single-day return of 6%, bringing it to a present value of $5,679, which translates into a $94.5 billion market cap.

Bitcoin Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

Ethereum Price Holds Above $300

The ethereum price experienced a single-day recovery as well, although its performance was not quite as impressive as that of bitcoin. After dipping as low as $291, the ethereum price managed to fight its way back across the $300 threshold. Ethereum is currently trading at $309, which represents a 24-hour recovery of about 3%. Ethereum now has a market cap of $29.4 billion.

Ethereum Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

Altcoins Eye Generally Recovery

Altcoins lost ground to bitcoin on Thursday, which saw its dominant market share rise about 1% to 55.7%. However, the majority of altcoins experienced recoveries against the value of USD, adding about $2 billion to their combined market cap.

Altcoin Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

But there were some significant outliers. In fact, three of the top 10 cryptocurrencies posted negative movement for the day, and the worst performance belonged to ripple. XRP holders had expected Ripple to make a major announcement during “Swell”, a conference hosted by the fintech startup. However, nothing materialized — at least not of the caliber they were expecting — causing the ripple price to add to its losses from yesterday. At present, the ripple price is $0.212, which represents a 24-hour decline of 7%.

Ripple Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

Fourth-ranked bitcoin cash also posted a minor decline, causing it to tick down to about $334. Several major bitcoin cash proponents — including Roger Ver and Calvin Ayre — intend to start a campaign to assert that “bitcoin cash is bitcoin”, so it will be interesting to see if this has any lasting effects on the trajectory of BCH.

Litecoin Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

The litecoin price, on the other hand, rose by 8%. This advance pushed it back over the $60 threshold, and litecoin is currently priced at $61. This translates into a market cap of $3.2 billion.

Dash added 3%, but it was unable to climb past the $300 mark, while NEM surged by just under 10%. NEO declined 3% after weathering the Wednesday downturn quite respectably, and bitconnect rose by 8% to $201. Monero rounds out the top 10 with a 1% increase, which was just enough to inch above the $90 barrier.

Author: Josiah Wilmoth on 19/10/2017

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

IMF Head — Cryptocurrency Could Be the Future. Really.

October 3, 2017

IMF Head - Cryptocurrency Could Be the Future. Really.

IMF Head — Cryptocurrency Could Be the Future. Really.

Christine Lagarde sees a path ahead for cryptocurrency.

The managing director of the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, talked up the potential of virtual currencies to supplant traditional monies in coming decades on Friday. Cryptocurrencies, or virtual currencies, are a new class of digital assets powered by blockchains, distributed ledgers that made their name underpinning networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Unlike JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and billionaire hedge fund founder Ray Dalio, who have recently disparaged Bitcoin, the world's most well known cryptocurrency, Lagarde shared a rosier vision of the general technology's future with attendees of a Bank of England conference in London. "In many ways, virtual currencies might just give existing currencies and monetary policy a run for their money," she said.

"It may not be wise to dismiss virtual currencies," Lagarde told the audience. "Instead, citizens may one day prefer virtual currencies."

Lagarde devoted a third of her talk, which envisioned how financial tech may reshape the world by the year 2040, to the subject of cryptocurrency. She noted that digital money could gain popularity as engineers work through technology issues related to processing more payments through blockchain networks in the future.

"Why might citizens hold virtual currencies rather than physical dollars, euros, or sterling? Because it may one day be easier and safer than obtaining paper bills, especially in remote regions," Lagarde said. "Virtual currencies could actually become more stable."

Lagarde couched her predictions with the pretense of sci-fi ("Are you ready to jump on my [hovering drone] pod and explore the future together?" she said), but her forecast matches the view of other big-name optimists, like Fidelity CEO Abigail Johnson. "I'm a believer," Johnson said at an industry conference earlier this year about digital currencies.

Other topics Lagarde touched on included the possible disruption of the traditional banking business model by fintech upstarts as well as the advent of artificial intelligence.

You can read Lagarde's prepared remarks in full here, or read on for the segment about cryptocurrency, below.

1. Virtual currencies

Let us start with virtual currencies. To be clear, this is not about digital payments in existing currencies—through Paypal and other “e-money” providers such as Alipay in China, or M-Pesa in Kenya.

Virtual currencies are in a different category, because they provide their own unit of account and payment systems. These systems allow for peer-to-peer transactions without central clearinghouses, without central banks.

For now, virtual currencies such as Bitcoin pose little or no challenge to the existing order of fiat currencies and central banks. Why? Because they are too volatile, too risky, too energy intensive, and because the underlying technologies are not yet scalable. Many are too opaque for regulators; and some have been hacked.

But many of these are technological challenges that could be addressed over time. Not so long ago, some experts argued that personal computers would never be adopted, and that tablets would only be used as expensive coffee trays. So I think it may not be wise to dismiss virtual currencies.

Better value for money?

For instance, think of countries with weak institutions and unstable national currencies. Instead of adopting the currency of another country—such as the U.S. dollar—some of these economies might see a growing use of virtual currencies. Call it dollarization 2.0.

IMF experience shows that there is a tipping point beyond which coordination around a new currency is exponential. In the Seychelles, for example, dollarization jumped from 20 percent in 2006 to 60 percent in 2008.

And yet, why might citizens hold virtual currencies rather than physical dollars, euros, or sterling? Because it may one day be easier and safer than obtaining paper bills, especially in remote regions. And because virtual currencies could actually become more stable.

For instance, they could be issued one-for-one for dollars, or a stable basket of currencies. Issuance could be fully transparent, governed by a credible, pre-defined rule, an algorithm that can be monitored…or even a “smart rule” that might reflect changing macroeconomic circumstances.

So in many ways, virtual currencies might just give existing currencies and monetary policy a run for their money. The best response by central bankers is to continue running effective monetary policy, while being open to fresh ideas and new demands, as economies evolve.

Better payment services?

For example, consider the growing demand for new payment services in countries where the shared, decentralized service economy is taking off.

This is an economy rooted in peer-to-peer transactions, in frequent, small-value payments, often across borders.

Four dollars for gardening tips from a lady in New Zealand, three euros for an expert translation of a Japanese poem, and 80 pence for a virtual rendering of historic Fleet Street: these payments can be made with credit cards and other forms of e-money. But the charges are relatively high for small-value transactions, especially across borders.

Instead, citizens may one day prefer virtual currencies, since they potentially offer the same cost and convenience as cash—no settlement risks, no clearing delays, no central registration, no intermediary to check accounts and identities. If privately issued virtual currencies remain risky and unstable, citizens may even call on central banks to provide digital forms of legal tender.

So, when the new service economy comes knocking on the Bank of England’s door, will you welcome it inside? Offer it tea—and financial liquidity?

Author: Robert Hackett

Posted by David Ogden Entrpreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency entreprenur

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member