crypto expert

A United States appellate court in the state of Florida has reinstated charges against a man who sold Bitcoin (BTC) to an undercover police officer, local media Miami Herald reports on Jan. 30. According to the report, the Third District Court of Appeal ruled that a judge who dismissed charges against the defendant, Michell Espinoza, was wrong.  Espinoza is a website designer who was charged with allegedly transmitting and laundering $1,500 worth of BTC without a money transmitter license.  At the initial trial in a Miami-Dade circuit court, the defense argued that, since Bitcoin is not considered money under Florida law, no license is required.  The judge subsequently ruled that Bitcoin is not money, and its sale unintentionally for illegal purposes does not constitute money laundering, further stating that BTC is just “poker chips that people are willing to buy from you.”  Still, the appellate court ruled that Espinoza indeed engaged in unlicensed money tran...

The militant arm of Hamas — the de facto ruling authority of the Gaza Strip in Palestine — has appealed to its supporters to send it funds using Bitcoin (BTC).  The appeal was made via the official Telegram channel of Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas’ Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, on Jan. 29.  Hamas — which comprises social service arm “Dawah” and militant faction “Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades,” is deemed to be a terrorist organization, in whole or in part, by several countries and international organizations — including the United States and the European Union. Russia, Turkey and China are among those major world powers who do not designate the group as a terrorist entity. In his message, Abu Obeida called upon “all lovers of the resistance and the supporters of our righteous cause to support the resistance financially using ‘Bitcoin’ currency,” adding that an exact funding mechanism for transacting the crypto would be announced later. Hamas has governed the Gaza...

The bitcoin price has lost some 6% since the weekend, with ethereum down by 11% and ripple, a common name for the XRP digital token, off by 10% over the same period, according to the latest prices on CoinMarketCap, which tracks most major cryptocurrencies.  Tether, a so-called stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, has meanwhile climbed into the top five major cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, now worth a little over $2 billion, as other top 10 coins slide. The renewed bitcoin sell-off, which has seen the bitcoin price fall as low as $3,322 in the last 24 hours on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, comes as big banks and major financial institutions repeat stark warnings over the future of cryptocurrencies—and the latest data suggests more pain to come for bitcoin, ripple (XRP), and ethereum.  Some $400 billion in value has been wiped from the cryptocurrency market over the past 12 months as adoption stalls and banks put closely-watched plans to wade into...

Bitcoin ended a two-week period of consolidation with a drop to six-week lows earlier today. The leading cryptocurrency by market value fell below $3,470 at 04:45 UTC, confirming a downside break of a triangle pattern. That range breakdown was followed by a quick slide to $3,357 – the lowest level since Dec. 17 – according to Bitstamp data. A prolonged period of consolidation usually yields a big move in the direction of the breakout.  For instance, BTC ended a multi-week-long trading range with a move below $6,000 on Nov. 14 and what followed was a violent sell-off to levels below $4,000.  However, the duration of the recent consolidation was shorter than the one seen before the big bearish move of Nov. 14. So, the magnitude of any post-breakdown move would likely be smaller too.  Nevertheless, the latest range breakdown could at least yield re-test of December lows near $3,100, as the primary trend represented by the downward sloping 10-week moving average (MA) i...

The tron price has now passed both litecoin and stellar after a strong few months to take the seventh spot in the rankings of world's biggest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, according to CoinMarketCap, which tracks most major digital tokens. Tron has outperformed both bitcoin and the U.S. dollar over the last month, with its price climbing over 130% since its bull run began in mid-December.  Tron is however down by some 90% since its all-time high 12 months ago, which saw it propelled to an eye-watering market capitalization of more than $16 billion by bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency market's massive 2017 bull run.  Tron's recent price rally has been put down to a rise in the use of tron blockchain protocol for DApps, while it has been further boosted by the upcoming BitTorrent token sale, which will begin tomorrow and run until February 3.  There will be two sessions of the token sale whereby investors can use either tron or binance coin to p...

Tom Lee & Bitcoin Predictions As Bitcoin (BTC) made monumental moves in the fourth quarter of 2017, crypto pundits took to mainstream news outlets and social media mediums en-masse to make zany price predictions.  While some zealots, influenced by the religious fervor of this movement, called for sextuple digits (or even septuple digits), one calm voice made a scaled-back price prediction of a then-mere $25,000.  Per previous reports from Ethereum World News, the soothsayer in question was Tom Lee, an executive at Fundstrat Global Advisors with a seeming enamorment with digital assets. At the time, the research head at the New York-headquartered investment advisor claimed that BTC was undervalued.  And over the course of 2018, the believer maintained his prediction as best he could, even as the broader crypto market collapsed.  In May, as BTC ranged a tad under quintuple digits, Lee explained that the tumult was “typical crypto volatility.”  Then, the...

Analysts at JP Morgan have predicted that Bitcoin (BTC) could fall below $1,260, while banks will not benefit from blockchain for at least three to five years, Reuters reported on Jan. 24.  According to Reuters, analysts from the major global investment bank think that the true value of cryptos is still unproven, and that they only make sense in a hypothetical “dystopian” event, wherein investors have lost faith in major traditional assets like gold and the U.S. dollar. JP Morgan also said that institutional involvement in the crypto market has slumped over the past six months, with individual traders making up the majority of the market.  In its crypto report, the company claimed that using crypto for payments will remain “challenged,” adding that the firm was unable to find any major retailers that accepted crypto in 2018.  JP Morgan’s analysts have further suggested that Bitcoin is likely to drop to around $2,400, and could even fall below $1,260 if the curren...

Major global Bitcoin (BTC) wallet Xapo will relocate key business operations from Hong Kong to Switzerland, according to Swiss news agency Swissinfo on Jan. 21.  Speaking at the World Web Forum in Zurich, the wallet’s president Ted Rogers revealed that the main purpose of the move was the search for a better crypto regulatory environment.  According to Xapo’s president, Hong Kong used to be thought of as “the holy grail of crypto regulations,” but that in fact the jurisdiction has “become more opaque.”  Rogers argued that he always considered Switzerland “the right place” for blockchain and crypto-related projects to flourish, stating that Swiss regulators are “smart, interested and sophisticated in dealing with the financial markets.”  According to the report, Xapo’s geographic transfer of operations will involve moving support for non-United States clients from Hong Kong to Switzerland, while cash accounts will reportedly operated from London. In November 2018...

It doesn’t matter what the “real Bitcoin” is. In technology, “authenticity” is only important insofar as efficiency allows it to be. It’s unlikely this is the first time you’ve read my work.  I like to refer to myself as a cryptonaught.  I am someone who has spent a serious portion of my life exploring cryptocurrencies and cryptography.  We’re ten years into the blockchain revolution. Bitcoin is no longer the only cryptocurrency. It is no longer the only digital cash.  It is actually no longer the only Bitcoin.  What Bitcoin lacks in uniqueness, it makes up for in store of value, liquidity, and investor interest.  Not to mention security. Perhaps a rational crypto world would all flock to platforms that allow them to use the Bitcoin blockchain for security. I’m here to tell you, reader, that there are several things which don’t matter anymore. Maybe they never mattered.  First, I should present a limited parameter for what it takes to ...

Bitcoin price formed a solid support near the $3,560 level and moved higher against the US Dollar.  There is a crucial bearish trend line in place with resistance near $3,850 on the 4-hours chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken).  The pair could continue to move higher towards the $3,850 and $4,000 levels in the near term. Bitcoin price is showing positive signs above the $3,600 support against the US Dollar. BTC/USD could accelerate gains once there is a break above $3,800 and $3,850.  Bitcoin Price Analysis   This past week, bitcoin price dived below the $3,560 support level against the US Dollar. However, the BTC/USD pair found a strong buying interest near the $3,480 and $3,500 support levels.  As a result, there was a sharp bounce above the $3,560 level.  The price climbed above the $3,600 and $3,640 resistance levels. Besides, there was a break above the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $4,111 high to $3,4...

During last year the value of Bitcoin (BTC) sent to darknet markets increased by 70 percent, according to a Chainalysis report published on Jan. 18.  The Chainalysis report points out that darknet activity is relatively not influenced by Bitcoin’s price action and does not necessarily drop when the price drops.  According to the data contained in the report, in 2018 the relationship between the value of darknet market transactions and Bitcoin’s market performance was inverse.  Over the course of 2018, the total value sent to darknet markets saw a notable 70 percent increase, while total Bitcoin economic transaction value dropped throughout the year. According to Chainalysis data, the total dollar value of darknet market transactions has been steadily rising since 2011.  The value peaked in 2017 at $707 million and decreased approximately 14 percent to $603 million in 2018.  According to the report, the decrease in value from 2017 to 2018 is att...

 Tencent Mulling Bid for Owner of Bitstamp & Korbit Reuters reports that Tencent is actively pursuing co-investors to purchase the South Korea-based NXC Corp, the company behind gaming firm Nexon.  Kim Jung-ju reportedly wants to sell a 98.64 percent share in the company that he co-founded in 1994.  That stake, which is held by Kim and his wife, is worth an estimated $7.1 billion to $8.9 billion.  Though best known for its gaming empire, NXC owns multiple cryptocurrency exchanges.  In late 2017, the firm acquired a majority stake in Korbit - then South Korea's second-largest crypto exchange - in a deal that valued the company at $150 million.  Korea's crypto market has undergone significant turbulence in year-and-a-half since that acquisition, but Korbit retains a solid presence in the region with an estimated $350 million in monthly trading volume.  Last October, NXMH - NXC's Belgian subsidiary - purchased an 80 percent stake in...

Bitcoin price volatility has crashed in the last 12 months as the bear market killed off the speculative frenzy. Daily volatility, the spread between the price high and price low, stood at $61 yesterday – down a hefty 98 percent from the figure of $3,468 observed on Jan. 16, 2018 – according to CoinMarketCap data. Meanwhile, bitcoin’s price is also down 74 percent year-on-year. Generally, with a sharp drop in price, volatility in dollar terms tends to fall in parallel. Notably, volatility was extremely high in percentage terms 12 months ago. The trading range was 26 percent on Jan. 16, 2018, indicating that the crypto market frenzy was at its peak. Volatility, however, subsided as the year progressed: dropping from $973 in the first quarter to $345, $245 and $195, in the following quarters, respectively. Meanwhile, in percentage terms, average daily volatility fell from 9.14 percent to 3.6 percent over 2018. This year has begun on a much more calm note. Daily volatility has remained l...

European Authority Concerned About Crypto Per Forbes, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the E.U.’s in-house financial agency based in Paris, recently issued an in-depth report on “crypto-assets.”  In the 49-page primer on how the region’s regulators should address digital currencies, ESMA outlined current issues with the underlying crypto market.  Although the document was lengthy, a theme became quickly apparent. The European financial advisory group explained that cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, could pose notable threats to investor protection and market integrity.  Via the report, the ESMA explained that it currently sees an array of pertinent issues with the industry itself.  Most notably, the organization drew attention to market volatility, fraud, money laundering, market manipulation, and multi-million dollar cyber-attacks. ESMA’s analysts and researchers also explained that liquidity in a majority of cryptocurrency markets...