Bitcoin Price Could Double with Scaling Resolution: Hedge Fund

Global Advisors, a U.K.-based investment firm that has developed an investment program to provide market exposure to the price of bitcoin, recently offered an upbeat outlook on bitcoin. The assessment noted that Litecoin’s recent soft fork gives reason to think the scaling solution could be applied to bitcoin, possibly doubling its price.

Taking measure of the range of news around bitcoin of late, the Global Advisors’ assessment quoted the late Jesse Livermore in saying “a prudent speculator never argues with the tape.” Livermore, an American who lived from 1877 to 1940, shorted the stock market crashes of both 1907 and 1929 and was worth $100 million at his peak before committing suicide following a series of losses.

While much negative news has been reported on bitcoin, the prices have been strong.

Media Focuses On The Negative

On the negative side, which the media tends to focus on, China has clamped down on bitcoin trading by imposing trading fees and AML/KYC controls. There has also been a ban on withdrawals from cryptocurrency exchanges. There has been a roll-over on the temporary ban and a discount of up to $250 for trapped coins.

Looking further back, the IRS last year subpoenaed Coinbase to release client records for bitcoin trades.

More recently, the dispute between different factions within the bitcoin community over the future development of the bitcoin protocol continues.

The SEC denied the Winklevoss bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

Bitfinex, which suffered a hack last year, continues to lack fiat withdrawal capability.

Why The Price Keeps Rising

Bitcoin’s price, nonetheless, has been on an upward trend throughout all the various challenges.

Global Advisors’ assessment points to Japan, the new hot spot of bitcoin bitcoin trading. The BitFlyer exchange has been successful with Japanese investors, likely due to its advertising campaign. BitFlyer’s sign ups set a new record on Facebook.

Litecoin also creates reason for hope. Segregated Witness, a protocol designed to shorten bitcoin transactions and improve the capacity of the transaction blocks, has been successfully implemented by Litecoin. Litecoin’s price, as a result, has tripled.

Litecoin’s SegWit success holds promise for bitcoin. The price impact on bitcoin could be “shocking,” and a price doubling wouldn’t be unexpected.

The hedge fund stated:

“Even though one can find no evidence whatsoever that there were scaling pressures in Litecoin, this upgrade went ahead and if it is even slightly predictive of a path that can be taken in bitcoin, one that will at least show progress if not resolution, the price impact could be significant. A double up wouldn’t be shocking.”

Altcoins overall will serve as “test beds” for bitcoin. New features developed for altcoins can be incorporated into bitcoin. ZCash, Ethereum and other altcoins offer desirable features.

Altcoins Gain Market Share

Ethereum’s and Litecoin’s rises have changed the “bitcoin dominance” metric, the assessment noted. Bitcoin dominance is based on the cryptocurrency’s market capitalization as a percent of all coin market capitalization. This dominance has been dropping as the total value of all coins has increased.

Bitcoin comprised 95% of the total crypto market capitalization three years. It now stands at 60%. Global Advisors termed this a “stunning progression.”

But as noted above, growing altcoins bring positive influences for bitcoin.

Arbitrage opportunities: What do they mean?

Global Advisors noted that it receives a lot of requests for an “arbitrage-only” product, which is not the best use of a company’s time that remains upbeat on bitcoin’s price and on scaling its product offerings.

Arbitrages are a consequence of fragmented bitcoin trading venues and limited capital in each trading venue. Hence, a big unidirectional flow can alter a given price deck, yielding an arbitrage opportunity.

Exchanges have three areas leading to wider arbitrage opportunities: credit/reputation risk, difficulties moving coins and problems moving cash. Chinese domestic coins are currently frozen, for example, while Bitfinex and other exchanges have banking issues.

Combined, these factors present arbitrage opportunities, some of which are untradeable, others requiring patience and still others requiring speculation.

Rather than focus on arbitrage opportunities, Global Advisors believes bitcoin’s best days are still ahead.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

David Ogden – Http://markethive.com/david-ogden

Ripple Market Capitalization Soars, Surges Past Ethereum

Ripple tokens have hit a massive upswing in market capitalization over the last day, surging past Ethereum and nipping at bitcoin’s heels.

At end of day May 14, Ripple’s market capitalization was at about $8,345,000,000. Ripple continued surging well into the next day at about $11,500,000,000, continuing to climb. This has occurred in an oscillating fashion over the last few weeks, as Ethereum and the blockchain transfer token duke it out for supremacy.

Several news sites and other sources suggest this upswing in market capitalization was spurred by recent partnerships in the ripple network. These partnerships include large banking conglomerates and other banking organizations opting to work with or adopt the Ripple network.

An April 26 Ripple press announcement said,

Ripple is proud to announce the addition of 10 new customers to our growing global network. These financial institutions include MUFG, BBVA, SEB, Akbank, Axis Bank, YES BANK, SBI Remit, Cambridge Global Payments, Star One Credit Union and eZforex.com, representing some of the world’s largest banks, innovative smaller banks, and payment service providers (PSPs).

Differences Between Ripple tokens and Bitcoin: Ripple is a “Bank Coin”

Even though Ripple is gaining ground on market capitalization, there are distinctions between Ripple tokens and currencies like bitcoin and Ethereum. For instance, Ripple has enjoyed its market capitalization skyrocket as a result of gaining the aforesaid partnerships.

This happened because Ripple is a “bank coin.”Ripple Market Capitalization Soars, Surges Past Ethereum Several commentators pointed out ripple is not a decentralized cryptocurrency. It is a centralized bank-to-bank transfer coin. Ripple’s own commentary from their labs suggested the same when they mentioned being able to use a global freeze feature.

“The freeze protocol extension gives gateways the ability to 1) globally freeze all their issued funds, or 2) freeze funds issued to a particular user. Frozen funds may only be sent back to the gateway who issued them.”

This ability to freeze funds means that Ripple is not a decentralized blockchain protocol, but instead a distributed database that maintains control of the network from a central hub. This is a feature that would be impossible to execute if the coin was founded on decentralized algorithms.

This comes to no surprise to many, though, because this fact is not a hidden agenda. Ripple’s website explained the purpose of their technology: Its purpose is to be an inter-bank transfer protocol to smooth out the financial interactions between banks.

Conclusion: Ripple’s Market Position

In this regard, Ripple’s market cap has increased as a result of their partnerships. These alliances caused the market capitalization to swell beyond Ethereum, even though Ripple is not in the same category of coin.

It happened as a result of their positioning in the market. It happened because of a business alliance. By definition and design, Ripple is not meant to be a cryptocurrency. It is a “database coin” that is controlled via centralization and economic engineers.

Will Ripple’s token continue to grow on into the future? Can it maintain the second position in terms of market capitalization?

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

By Sterlin Lujan

David Ogden – Http://markethive.com/david-ogden

UK Security Researcher Pulls Handbrake on Global Ransomware Menace

A U.K.-based cyber researcher known as MalwareTech stopped the WannaCry ransomware that gained control of thousands of computers worldwide, forcing victims to pay $300 in bitcoin to restore their files.

WannaCry was able to exploit a Windows vulnerability leaked in April and use a hacking tool believed to be stolen from the National Security Agency (NSA).

The ransomware spread across 75,000 PCs, including 48 hospitals in the U.K.

Accidental Fix

MalwareTech discovered an unregistered domain name in WannaCry and purchased it for $10.69. Armed with the tool, the researcher pointed the domain to a sinkhole (a server that finds and analyzes malware traffic). The domain turned out to be a kill switch that enables someone to gain control of the ransomware.

The domain was intended to be unregistered, the MalwareTech noted. By registering it, subsequent actions were prevented.

The domain is a “sandbox” feature where security tools test code in a secluded environment on a PC. The address where MalwareTech registered his or her domain was pinged to all infected PCs, not just the sandboxed PCs.

The domain was meant as an “anti-sandbox” measure they didn’t think through sufficiently, MalwareTech said.

Cisco Talos and other security firms confirmed the malware attack ended thanks to MalwareTech’s actions. Computers already infected, however, could still be at risk.

Shadow Brokers Behind The Hack?

Talos said the malware was leaked by the Shadow Brokers, a hacking group believed to have dumped NSA hacking tools.

Talos said the hackers will try to install WannaCry by means of a backdoor called DoublePulsar leaked by Shadow Brokers. If the backdoor was not embedded on a target Windows PC, it would try to exploit a flaw in the Microsoft OS Server Message Block, which is a network file sharing protocol.

Victims have been told not to pay the $300 ransom.

Microsoft and anti-virus providers have introduced WannaCry detections.

Microsoft issued an advisory that it is releasing a patch for Windows XPs that are out of support and its recommending companies disable the SMBv1 protocol.

Up-to-date Windows machines are safe from the ransomware.

Rob Wainwright, head of Europol, Europe’s chief law enforcement official, told the media he is concerned the numbers of victims could grow when people turn on their machines Monday morning.

A researcher at Proofpoint, Darien Huss, first discovered MalwareTech’s sinkhole was stopping the spread of the malware.

Huss agreed that the actors involved are amateurs based on the kill switch deployment. He said it is likely another attack will be coming soon.

Nearly $53k in bitcoin ransoms paid with WannaCry

Other Ransomware Versions Can Pose Risks

MalwareTech noted on Twitter that Version 1 was stoppable but Version 2 will likely remove the flaw.

The researcher claimed on Twitter to be providing the National Cyber Security Centre in the U.K. data to notify infected companies.

On Monday, MalwareTech advised people via Twitter they are at risk if they turn on a system without the MS 17-010 patch and TCP port 445 open.

MalwareTech, who did not reveal their gender, did not wish to be celebrated as a hero for stemming the spread of the malware. MalWareTech noted on Twitter that he or she wanted anonymity in order not to have to deal with journalists.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

By Lester Coleman

David Ogden – Http://markethive.com/david-ogden

TradeCoinClub

THIS may well be the best I have found, perhaps ever….

I have been laying low a bit lately while searching out and researching the best stuff online today, trying to fully and carefully apply whatever wisdom I’ve gained in some 16 years of working in this minefield. And… I am SO happy to have MAJOR News for you! THIS may well be the best I have found, perhaps ever….

BITCOINS, YES –

Most knowledgeable online workers now prefer to use Bitcoins in business, for many very good reasons. Among the most knowledgeable, many have been looking for a TRADING PLATFORM for CRYPTOCURRENCIES and using Bitcoin, but there has not been anything genuine to date. THAT HAS NOW CHANGED.

WE CAN NOW –

–>> PASSIVELY EARN FROM FULLY AUTOMATED TRADING OF THE TOP TEN CRYPTOCURRENCIES.
–>> LEVERAGE BITCOIN AND EARN DAILY PASSIVE BITCOIN
.–>> DIVERSIFY PASSIVE BTC EARNINGS IN A POWERFUL NEW WAY.
–>> ACTIVELY EARN STILL MORE BTC BY REFERRING TO THE PLATFORM.

TCC: WHAT IT IS –

Trade Coin Club is an offshore registered company offering an automated trading platform for major cryptocurrencies. Management is international and highly qualified. TCC trades in cryptos with licensed software that performs many millions of trades per day in ten of the major cryptocurrencies like Litecoin, Dash, BTC, etc. TCC itself works entirely with Bitcoins. Globally in a launch and pre-launch in different regions.

The company is full-function and earning and paying now.

The site is sophisticated and well developed already and fully activated. TCC is uniquely well positioned in a high-demand global niche. It is super-attractive for builders and leaders as well as for those who simply want to remain passive and leverage their Bitcoins into ever larger numbers. Miners too will find it a highly attractive diversification that will likely earn a lot more strongly for them.

BENEFITS –

PASSIVE:
Recent member reports daily “trading” profits with no losses – in dynamic rising Bitcoins! Set it and let it run. Those returns are substantially better than “mining”.

ACTIVE:
Members who refer receive 10% on both levels one and two, and lesser amounts down to as many as 8 levels. Plus referrers can earn 8 to 10% daily from a binary structure too. And there are MORE referral bonuses. It’s rich, but it is also very smart.
Compounding of one’s choice of all or some earnings is available. Withdrawal of earnings is on demand.

Ride the BTC Rise:
We are working 100% in Bitcoin, so as BTC rises we enjoy the full benefits of its rise – to who knows what heights! This is in contrast to some online options that actually work in dollars and only use BTC for pay-in’s and out’s. In these, as BTC rises your dollar based payout in BTC falls.

GUIDANCE –

It is scant on the site at the moment, as it is so early in the life of TCC, so the guidance to signing up, getting set up and learning, etc., is currently best obtained in Youtube videos and not so much in the back office… as yet

Learn more:
TCC Details and OVERVIEW Videos and PDF –

TCC Presentation and background by boss, Joff Fortune, short, 20 min: https://youtu.be/NiI7Joi_kag
TCC office in Belize: https://youtu.be/JHEDZ3PXx5Y
TCC PDF manual: http://dreameagles.info/TCC/TCC_Manual_2-23-17.pdf

My personal advice is to dig in and enjoy these resources. But do not get bogged down and too delayed in your explorations. There can be good benefits to making your move quickly. Be sure to have some Bitcoins, and a wallet to use for business. I am personally using Coinbase and Blockchain as my bitcoin processors. There are several choices.

How to Proceed –
Let’s keep this smooth and simple and let the videos take care of the heavy lifting. Use them to ease your way and to avoid simple errors.
Cost Notes: Joining is free, so you can do that immediately.
Minimum to participate actively is 0.30 BTC (0.25 plus a one time 0.05) Other entry levels are at 1 BTC and the highest at 5 BTC from which one will earn the most the fastest.
Referring? Edit this info page if you wish with your reg link. Duplicate the process of sharing these resources if you decide to build teams, pass these instructions on.
(Note: You need to be upgraded to at least the lowest Apprentice level package to refer.)

REGISTRATION LINK -> https://office.tradecoinclub.com/register/INFORMATION
Be sure your sponsor is listed as: INFORMATION

INSTRUCTIONS VIDEOS, use these as detailed guides, follow these.

1. SIGN UP PAGE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8dFkcWlEF4&feature=youtu.be&hd=1

2. BUY YOUR PACKAGE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPnZaKO4mnA&t=633s

3. HOW TO ACTIVATE YOUR WEEKLY AUTOMATIC TRADE: https://youtu.be/sneX_yRH8Og

. PLEASE MAKE SURE TO LOGIN EACH WEEK BETWEEN SUNDAY EVERY WEEK, WE MUST NOW SET OUR TRADES BECAUSE OF LEGAL DEPARTMENT RECOMMENDATIONS4PM PST AND MONDAY 3:59PM PST TO RESET YOUR TRADES ACTIVATION.

4. SUBMITTING DOCS CORRECTLY: (AT YOUR CONVENIENCE) documents can be submitted later but before requesting withdrawals.
https://youtu.be/zVAM7jDlwOk

5. Refer if you wish. Edit this email to make it your own, with care to the signup link, and share it with your favorite contacts and friends.

6. WHY IS THE EXCHANGE RATE WALLET ONLY SHOWING HALF OF YOUR DEPOSITS?

https://youtu.be/E8D4MhTmowA

7. HOW TO COMPOUND YOUR EARNINGS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mHr6jcHIfw&t=370s

8. More info: http://www.tradecoinclub.info

9. ENJOY A BETTER LIFE IN A RICHER WORLD.

Once again…

REGISTRATION LINK -> https://office.tradecoinclub.com/register/INFORMATION
Be sure your sponsor is listed as INFORMATION

P.S. keep this page for future reference and edit it to suit your needs. Thank you.

David Ogden
E ntrepreneur
.

David Ogden – Http://markethive.com/david-ogden

UNDERLYING ASSET BITCOIN VALUE CLOSER TO $3000

Bitcoin price has been skyrocketing, before this weekend’s cyber attack hiccup, but prices are again on the move upward. How much is a Bitcoin really worth right now? American investors are seeing a true value of more than 70% higher than the market rate this week.

As Bitcoin does not have any real level of mainstream investor access like an ETF, even though that is still a possibility, the next best thing right now is shares in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, or GBTC, according to sources. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is one of the very few ways to access Bitcoin through a standard brokerage account.

In the case of Bitcoin, its price has moved up about 50% over the last month, and the GBTC has nearly doubled. The extra buying and demand for exposure have pushed a premium onto shares of GBTC. To calculate the premium that you may be paying, you have to take your GBTC shares and times them by about 10.75. According to the company’s website, each share is about 0.093 BTC, as of late last month.

CLOSE TO $3000 BITCOIN VALUE

Just six weeks ago, shares were trading at half the price they are now. April 1st, 2017, GBTC shares were selling for $110 USD, and now they closing at $220, and have peaked at $265 each during inter-day trading. When you multiply these share values times 10.75, you are much closer to $3000 USD than you are the current market prices in the $1700-1800 range. $265 in GBTC shares converts to $2849 in underlying asset value.

This level of a premium price, in the 70% range, means there is a bubble forming, at least in this sector of the over-the-counter market, and now is not the time to buy. Even in markets like India, where Bitcoin currency is high in demand, it is selling at just over 20% over market. It may be advisable to wait until the market settles, which may not be until next month.

Considering these investment market realities, it is not hard to understand the mainstream interest in a future Bitcoin ETF to provide some level of competition. This is also a good indicator that the current price is legit, and a major, sustained Bitcoin price drop is not in the cards anytime soon, at least not in the U.S. market.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

David Ogden – Http://markethive.com/david-ogden

U.K. Land Registry Looks to Register Property on a Blockchain

Her Majesty’s Land Registry, a U.K. government agency responsible for registering land ownership, has announced it is seeking three non-executive board members as it undertakes a project using blockchain technology to register property.

The posting noted that the agency recently committed to making HM Land Registry “the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data.” It referenced the project as the most substantial transformation in the registry’s 150-year history.

State-Backed Ownership Guarantee

The registry, an executive agency of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, provides state-backed guarantee of ownership on the register rather than requiring title insurance.

To meet its objectives, the registry will have to become more digitized. It plans to launch a live test in the near future of a “Digital Street” to allow property ownership changes to close instantaneously. The Digital Street will also allow the registry to hold more granular data than is presently possible.

Digital Street would be the world’s first such registry, having great transformational potential for the property market, the posting noted. Blockchain technology is an underlying technology for the project.

Three Positions Needed

The registry seeks three non-executive board members to ensure the right mix of expertise. Experience in transformational/digital issues is being sought, along with finance and legal issues.

The transformational/digital member is expected to have experience delivering transformational change to provide service improvements and cost savings.

The person will have to deliver change across most transformation disciplines, including technology, process and people. The candidate is expected to have knowledge of information technology developments, including the delivery of digital services to customers and in data rich organizations.

The closing date for applications is June 22, 2017. Remuneration is £20,000 per annum.

Other Governments Have Similar Tests

The U.K is not the only country to explore blockchain technology for registering and managing property.

In February, the Republic of Georgia teamed with Bitfury Group, a provider of blockchain infrastructure, to use the bitcoin blockchain to validate property related transfers, marking the first time a national government used the bitcoin blockchain to validate and secure government actions.

Blockchain technology has also be tapped to improve land ownership in developing countries.

Last year, a team of blockchain technology pioneers from Ghana, Denmark and the U.S., launched the Bitland initiative to establish usable land titles and free up trillions of dollars for infrastructure development in West Africa.

The Bitland initiative will educate the population about technology and provide the benefits of documented land ownership to those who don’t have it. It will begin in Ghana and expand throughout Africa, with hopes of catapulting infrastructure development and strengthening democracy.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

Contributor: Lester Coleman

David Ogden – Http://markethive.com/david-ogden

Cryptocurrency Bubble?

Cryptocurrency bubble ?

Cryptocurrency Bubble ?

Some credible sources are citing a possible "cryptocurrency bubble", as the prices of coins and tokens rocket and the fever for initial coin offerings (ICOs) continues unabated. All this stuff involves the technology known as blockchain, so it's all broadly related, but there are also certain distinct phenomena to consider.

On the one hand, we are seeing a massive increase in the price of Bitcoin, ether, Dash, Z-Cash, Monero, what have you.

Also surging is the ICO trend, which involves many new startups issuing and selling their own tokens (often oversubscribed with speculative buyers) as a way to crowdfund the building of yet another use-case focused blockchain system.

One theory behind the dramatic increase in the value of existing "altcoins", as in alternatives to Bitcoin, such as Dash or Litecoin, is that Bitcoin is approaching its limit and as a result users are now forced to pay increasingly high fees to use the Bitcoin network. Indeed, users are paying transaction processors additional Bitcoins to prioritise their transactions among the many thousands that are queued in a backlog, termed the 'mempool'.

Preston Byrne, COO of Monax and a fellow of the Adam Smith Institute, recently wrote about this: "The cryptocurrency market as a whole is interesting from an economic perspective in that it provides a perfectly transparent sandbox to see what happens when perfectly substitutable goods (Bitcoin clones) that accomplish the exact same thing (unregulated value transfer) in a fully automatic way (distributed state machines which require no human oversight) are placed in a position to compete.

"As far as an end-user of cryptocurrency software is concerned, whether a c-currency is $3000 in Dogecoin or $3000 in Bitcoin is immaterial; the shop round the corner prices its goods in USD/GBP/EUR, so as long as one coin or the other has sufficient liquidity to cash out, this means competition can occur on the basis of speed and transaction fees."

According to trading experts, the crypto ecosystem has been fleshed out lately with more cross pairs and on-ramps from the fiat world. There is a roll in roll out trade from Bitcoin to crypto and back as the markets inflate on both sides of the trade.

Charles Hayter, CEO, CryptoCompare, said: "Last year it was fairly easy to predict buying of Bitcoin through fiat and then into crypto. The cross pairs and markets have matured to offer direct Ethereum and Litecoin buying in a number of fiat pairs and this is increasing the options for traders to enter and exit positions. That said, Bitcoin is still the direct port in a storm for the entire industry.

"You are also seeing the arrival of new nations to the crypto sphere with their own bespoke approach to local regulatory issues et al – South Korea is a perfect case in point as they have taken the number three spot in terms on direct fiat to Ethereum trading.

Hayter said another interesting trend has been the dislocation of markets premia / discounts across pairs have widened. "This has been exacerbated by the Chinese regulatory issues as well as Wells Fargos hiatus on international transfers connected to Bitfinex and USDT. New markets tend to sit at premiums, as direct fiat flow spikes prices with exit routes from dead pools of money trading at a premium for exiting the exchange," he said, adding, "bubble – to an extent."

However, as far as ICOs are concerned, many prominent people in the industry believe this is fast becoming pure bubble territory and will end in tears (and probably some actions by the SEC). Someone who would go the record about token sales is angel investor and author William Mougayar, who is organising the Token Summit in New York on May 25.

He said: "In the history of technological cycles, if you follow economist Carlota Perez's thinking, nothing great happens without overshooting during the installation phase of a given technology, before moving into the adoption phase.

"We are clearly in the installation phase of cryptotech, and there is nothing we can do to prevent this overshooting from happening. It's just human nature at play.

"Of course there are ideas, protocols, start-ups and applications currently being launched that will not make it long term, but out of all this activity, some great ones will emerge."

Byrne of Monax has been as staunch a critic of ICOs as anyone ("the equivalent of selling people rows in a database"). But he concluded by saying that, amid all the froth, the way blockchains perform is truly impressive.

"Even relatively obscure systems with a fairly low level of developer input, such as Dogecoin, continue to survive and thrive under the circumstances. This is a ringing endorsement of blockchain technology as a very capable way of automating financial process flows with maximal security and minimal supervision.

"In the enterprise blockchain space we benefit directly from observing the failings and successes of public blockchain systems, which allows us to deliver more value to our clients in the permissioned/regulated applications they ask us to build. All in all, it's great," he said.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

By Ian Allison

David Ogden – Http://markethive.com/david-ogden

Cryptocurrency Ethereum soars by 900 per cent as stellar performer gets Chinese boost

A CRYPTOCURRENCY that allows users to move value around as well as represent the ownership of property has rocketed by 900 per cent in just a year.

Ethereum, which uses apps that run on a custom built blockchain, an enormously powerful shared global infrastructure, is attracting serious investor interest over its incredible financial returns.

The blockchain app, which claims it allows developers to create markets, store registries of debts or promises and move funds all without a middle man or counterparty risk, was launched in August 2014.

It was developed by a Swiss nonprofit and crowdfunding campaign which has in turn catapulted it to huge success.

With a current market capitalisation of more than £7billion, the digital currency is outperforming its main rival Bitcoin, according to market data.

Now analysts say it has been of particular interest to the Chinese market which is embracing the explosion in digital currency with gusto.

Blogger Andrew Keys said: "I was fortunate enough to be invited to the city of Hangzhou for the Global Blockchain Financial Summit.
"During this trip to China, I learned about the burgeoning Ethereum communities in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou. Every night we hosted an Ethereum meetup and it was standing room only in each city.

"Peking University is creating an Ethereum Laboratory to work on protocol improvements and application use cases that effect China, specifically in supply chain and energy markets.

"The Royal Chinese Mint is experimenting with the ERC 20 token standard and Ethereum smart contracts to digitise the RMB".

Meanwhile Silicon Valley based Martin Frohler, who runs Quantiacs, told Express.co.uk that the cryptocurrency is set to revolutionise the way the world trades thanks to the advent of blockchain infrastructure following the news that Bitcoin surpassed $1,800 to a fresh record high today.

It rose more than $100 in just two days, driven by comments from policy makers and positive noises around the future of the cryptocurrency.

He said: "You can think of a Blockchain as an identical database of transactions (or other information) stored on hundreds of computers around the world.

"Every new transaction that's entered into the system has to be verified by the majority of the computers. Since no single person, government, or institution controls that majority it is close to impossible to hack a transaction.

“The process of verifying transactions through computing power is called 'mining'.

"The miner receives the right to create a very small new unit of that currency as reward.

"Depending on how much Bitcoin already exist that new unit becomes smaller and smaller over time.

"There is an absolute limit of the number of Bitcoin that will ever exist: 21 million. Bitcoin is by construction a deflationary currency, which makes it an attractive store for value.

"Anybody with internet access can buy or sell bitcoin at a bitcoin exchange or with a digital wallet".

The digital currency is trading at $91.20 (3.11%) today.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

By SIOBHAN MCFADYEN

David Ogden – Http://markethive.com/david-ogden

Cryptocurrency â Looking Forward from May 2017

Cryptocurrency – Looking Forward from May 2017

For cryptocurrency enthusiasts, developers and investors, the first half of 2017 has been nothing but exciting. Very few people would have predicted the trends that we are now seeing today: a vibrant and rapidly growing altcoin market, massive all time highs for both Bitcoin and Ethereum and an initial coin offering (ICO) crowdfunding mechanism that is creating enormous investor hype.

Among all of this noise are a number of very interesting developments. These developments could indicate what’s to come in the second half of 2017, and this article aims to summarize events so far and what may be to come. Whatever your role in the cryptocurrency space, this piece should serve as some inspiration as to where to look next.

RIPPLE – BITCOIN FOR BANKS

The popularity of Bitcoin’s blockchain stems from its ability to circumvent banks and allow users to engage in peer to peer transactions without authority; creating an enormous array of applications for Bitcoin gambling and dark net markets, as well as limitless “white hat” models. This ideology is more powerful than ever today, but the introduction of Ripple in 2013 has demonstrated that banks themselves can be revolutionized by overhauling their systems to use blockchain-based payments.

Ripple is unlike most other cryptocurrencies, in that it operates on a private or “consortium” blockchain, whereby the nodes (transaction verifiers) are controlled by trusted financial institutions that have been vetted to join the network – on the contrary, anyone in the world is free to join and use the Bitcoin network. The Ripple tokens (XRP) power international transactions on the network, whether that’s fiat to fiat, crypto to crypto or a mix of the two – with currency exchange conversions happening on the fly. Ripple allows banks to reduce global (and domestic) payment times from days and weeks down to seconds, with layers of transparency that are unprecedented in the traditional banking sector.

Despite being a private blockchain, anyone in the world is able to purchase XRP, and with a fixed supply of 100bn, scarcity may play an important role in the future price of XRP. This scarcity has also been compounded by the founding team of Ripple agreeing to verifiably “lock up” well over half of that total supply – adding some predictability to the XRP price. This lock up time is possibly planned for extension, which – combined with the listing of XRP on major exchanges like Bitstamp, and Ripple’s partnership with Japan’s largest bank – has led to a meteoric rise in the value of XRP from $0.01 to $0.18 in a matter of weeks.

Over the past several months, it has become apparent that large financial institutions are leaning towards consortium based blockchains as opposed to the public ones offered by Bitcoin – although Ethereum may buck that trend as discussed below.

ETHEREUM – EEA AND DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP

Ethereum was the first blockchain to successfully convince investors that altcoins had a viable place in what was largely considered a Bitcoin-only ecosystem. Popular due to its built-in smart contract protocol, Ethereum is able to run computations that can transact value without middlemen. As a result, the project has led to the formation of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) which connects dozens of businesses and academics who are rapidly researching and developing smart contract technology.

While a number of the projects being worked on are private forks of Ethereum – such as JP Morgan’s Quorum protocol – the interoperability with the main Ethereum chain, as well as the lessons being learned (and shared among EEA members and the open source community), is having profound effects on Ethereum as a whole.

The EEA is just one offshoot of Ethereum that has attracted enormous investment, however there are other developments which have led to a recent upsurge in the price of Ether, from $10 to roughly $90 at the time of writing.

ETHEREUM NAME SERVICE

In May 2017, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) launched the Ethereum Name Service (ENS). This protocol is analogous to the separate Domain Name Service (DNS), which ties domain names to i.p. addresses – making them more readable to human users. In a similar way, the ENS will tie long and unreadable smart contract or personal wallet addresses to a memorable “name” such as mywallet.eth. These names are currently at auction, and there has so far been $7m worth of bids, with exchange.eth receiving a massive $600,000 bid. Note that this is a proxy bid, meaning the winner would only ever pay a trivial amount more than the next highest bidder.

REDUCING MINER REWARD

A poll taking place on carbonvote.com has indicated that an overwhelming 99.73% are in agreement with a move to reduce the miner reward from 5 ETH per block to 2 ETH (with blocks continuing to be mined at roughly 15 second intervals). The motivation behind such a change is to reduce uncertainty about the future total ETH token supply, helping to drop ETH inflation from 13% to a figure that is more inline with Bitcoin’s 4% inflation.

PROOF OF STAKE

Proof of Stake (PoS) is an alternative consensus protocol to the Proof of Work (PoW) mechanism that was made famous by Bitcoin’s blockchain. In order to secure a blockchain, miners must be rewarded by processing valid transactions, and ignoring invalid transactions. In a PoW system, a miner must expend enormous amounts of energy (with a significant cost in doing so) to process a “block” of transactions and to earn their reward. PoW protocols are enormously inefficient, with huge energy requirements that are not inline with modern day environmental considerations.

Proof of Stake serves as an alternative consensus protocol that achieves similar levels of security, but requires “miners” (called validators) to stake value in the form of cryptocurrency – expending little to no energy at all. If the validator tries to game the system for their own advantage, they lose all of their staked value. Validators that act honestly are rewarded by receiving what is analogous to interest payments.

Ethereum plans to move from their PoW structure to a PoS one, and this move is pegged for the end of 2017/start of 2018. Such a change in protocol would lock enormous amounts of Ether in staking contracts, removing said Ether from the ecosystem and reducing circulating supply.

BITCOIN – SEGREGATED WITNESS AND THE LITECOIN TEST BED

Bitcoin has been unswayed by the incredible rise in altcoin market caps over the past 6 months and remains one of the best performing cryptocurrencies in the market. Having matured beyond the “pump and dump” phase, the currency has now established itself as the gateway into the world of crypto. Bitcoin is, in its current form, the ultimate store of value and medium for exchange when dealing with other currencies. All of this is despite major concerns over the currency’s ability to scale. Transaction fees have increased several fold, and the mempool (unconfirmed transactions) has seen enormous growth – leading to delays of several hours or even days.

Thankfully, Bitcoin’s little cousin – Litecoin – has played a vital role in abating fear amongst Bitcoin investors. Litecoin, whose market cap is a fraction of Bitcoin’s, has acted as a test bed for introducing Segregated Witness (SegWit) – a code change to help mitigate some of the scaling problems mentioned above. Litecoin’s activation of SegWit has given developers, users and miners renewed confidence in what this code change can do for Bitcoin, providing a “light at the end of the tunnel” on a 3 year long debate.

WHERE DO CRYPTOCURRENCIES GO FROM HERE?

Many early adopters have hailed blockchain technology as “the internet 2.0”. In past years, a number of key figures in the industry analogized the current state of blockchain to that of email in the 1990s, suggesting that what we see today is a fraction of what can be achieved with the protocol in the years ahead. That analogy, which was (and still is) heavily criticized by skeptics, is now becoming too obvious to ignore.

Rather than blockchains competing with one another, we are seeing interoperability take hold, and growth is practically ubiquitous amongst all majro cryptocurrencies. Smart contract technology is destined to have an enormous impact on a broad range of markets in the years to come, and the impact that blockchain-based banking will have on global economics is undeniable.

It is likely that cryptocurrencies will continue to grow at an unprecedented rate until, in the same analogous way to the Internet, we experience a gigantic bubble. At what point the bubble bursts is an unknown, however – sticking with the analogy – it wasn’t until the Internet reached a value well into the trillions that the market crashed. Compare this figure with that of the blockchain market which is worth no more than $100bn and it seems that we may still be some way off. Despite what seems like an inevitable bubble, the very long-term outlook for blockchain users, investors and developers could not be brighter.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

Author: Mark

David Ogden – Http://markethive.com/david-ogden

Florida Bill Would Punish Criminals Who Use Cryptocurrency

State lawmakers in Florida have introduced two bills which would add virtual currencies to the state’s money laundering statute. The bills were introduced in the wake of a Miami court case from last year, where a judge ruled that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are not money, and thus did not fall under the state’s money laundering law. The Senate version of the bill, Senate Bill 1626, was first introduced in the Florida Senate on March 3rd by Republican state Senator Rob Bradley. The companion bill in the Florida Houses of Representatives, House Bill 1379, was introduced on March 7th by Republican state Representative Jose Felix Diaz. State Rep. Diaz represents District 116, which includes Miami-Dade County.

On April 18th House Bill 1379 passed the state House’s Appropriations Committee unanimously, and on Monday the 24th the bill unanimously passed the the state House’s Judiciary Committee. The House version of the bill was added to the Special Order calendar for Wednesday the 27th, where the bill could be voted on by the full state House of Representatives. Senate Bill 1626 unanimously passed the state Senate’s Criminal Justice Committee on March 27th, and then unanimously passed the Appropriations Subcommittee on Criminal and Civil Justice on April 13th. The Senate’s version of the bill is now being considered by the state Senate’s Appropriations Committee.

The two bills were drafted with the help of Katherine Fernandez Rundle, a cybercrimes prosecutor from Miami-Dade County.“The high-tech criminals of the 21st Century use virtual currencies like bitcoin to accumulate and hide the profits of their illegal activities. This legislation makes sure that traffickers and fraudsters can no longer try to use internet-based currencies to hide and move their ill-gotten gains,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement.

The proposed legislation would define virtual currency as “a medium of exchange in electronic or digital format that is not a coin or currency of the United States or any other country.” The language used in both bills is practically identical. For now, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are not among the types of financial instruments and transactions which are applicable to the money laundering statute. The current law in Florida prohibits people from gaining money from a criminal activity, as well as prohibits using money to further a criminal activity. Due to the court ruling from last year, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are not legally recognized as money, and therefore cannot be treated as such under the state’s current money laundering law. If the proposed legislation is enacted, prosecutors will still need to prove that a person intended to help launder money, or intended to help further criminal activity.

In the case which inspired the two bills a Florida man, Michell Espinoza, fell victim to undercover law enforcement agents who tried to set him up in a sting operation by buying, what at the time was, $1,500 US Dollars worth of bitcoin. The undercover agents told Espinoza that they had planned to purchase stolen credit card numbers with the bitcoin he was selling them. Michell Espinoza won his case and was cleared of all charges in July of 2016. The state unsuccessfully tried to appeal the judge’s ruling in that case, but were unsuccessful.

While legislators may intend for the two new bills to make people like Michell Espinoza into criminals, it is important to remember something that Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Teresa Mary Pooler wrote in her eight page opinion in the case of the State of Florida v. Michell Abner Espinoza, where Judge Pooler wrote, “This court is unwilling to punish a man for selling his property to another, when his actions fall under a statute that is so vaguely written that even legal professionals have difficulty finding a singular meaning.” Even if the new bills are enacted, it is possible that future defendants being prosecuted under Florida’s money laundering statute could successfully argue that the law is unconstitutional in that it violates the vagueness doctrine.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

David Ogden – Http://markethive.com/david-ogden