An index fund provider states that 95% of volume on unregulated exchanges is fake

Bitwise Asset Management has reported that most of the volume on unregulated exchanges is either of non-economic nature and appears to be money laundering, or completely fake. Bitwise based it’s analysis on data from Coinmarketcap, further stating that the resource provides a misleading impression of the market by displaying non-existent volumes.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitwise-tells-us-sec-that-95-of-volume-on-unregulated-crypto-exchanges-is-suspect

AB-CHAIN Market News: crypto market sees mixed signals as Bitcoin hovers around $4,000

Bitcoin is trading at $4,032 at the time of publication, as top 20 cryptocurrencies see mixed trends. As such, XRP has gained 0.5% over the last 24 hours, trading at $0.32 while ETH has fallen almost 2%, currently hovering at $158.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/major-cryptocurrencies-see-slight-gains-palladium-hits-1-600-for-the-first-time

Critical bugs detected in major crypto platforms

Apparently, security researchers have done 13 independent reports over the course of the last month and collectively found 43 vulnerabilities in some of the most popular crypto platforms, including Brave, Coinbase, EOS, Monero (XMR), Tezos, OmiseGo, and Unikr.

https://www.coinnewsspan.com/43-vulnerabilities-detected-in-major-cryptocurrency-platforms/

Companies experience the rise of crypto mining attacks on cloud infrastructure

According to a report, the amount of mining cyberattacks is on the rise in 2019, as more and more businesses fall victims to hackers targeting cloud computing infrastructure.

In particular, the attack vectors include compromising container management platforms, control panel exploitation, and theft of APIs.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/businesses-increasingly-see-crypto-mining-attacks-in-cloud-infrastructures

Cryptojacking is on the rise in 2019, according to a report

A security report indicated that cryptojacking incidents increased by 78% in 2018 and this trend seams have carried over to the current year.

Experts believe that unfamiliarity with cryptocurrency prevents many victims infected with ransomware to pay attackers in Bitcoin, which makes many hackers shift to mining malware as a slower but more robust way of stealing money.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/report-shows-cryptojacking-is-prime-example-of-shift-towards-discreet-cyberattacks

AB-CHAIN market news: cryptos see slight losses across the board as Bitcoin hovers around $3900

Despite peaking above $4000, Bitcoin fell right back behind the $3900 mark, taking the whole market down with it, albeit not significantly. At the time of this publication, BTC is trading at 3,887, showing a slight growth of 0.2% over the last 24 hours.

Will the positive predictions for 2019 actually turn true?

https://cointelegraph.com/news/top-cryptos-see-minor-losses-as-bitcoin-falls-towards-3-900

According to a UN security council report, North Korea has stolen  $670 million in crypto and fiat.

Reportedly, hackers have been targeting financial institutions for years and utilizing the blockchain technology to cover traces of their attacks. Experts believe that cryptocurrency played a role in helping North Korea in diminishing the effects of economic sanctions.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/un-panel-says-north-korea-obtained-670-million-in-crypto-and-fiat-via-hacking-report

Nouriel Roubini, a New-York based economist who is famous for predicting the 2008 financial crisis stated in a recent interview that “cryptocurrency as technology has absolutely no basis for success.”

Roubini argued that crypto as a whole is not stable nor scalable and is not likely to become a widespread means of payment.

What are your thoughts on this?

https://cointelegraph.com/news/nouriel-roubini-cryptocurrency-as-a-technology-has-absolutely-no-basis-for-success

According to the statement of Kaspersky SEO, cryptocurrencies are an amazing idea but it is one the world is not ready to embrace yet. Kaspersky thinks that in somewhat distant future — the world will be united under one government, and will utilize a single cryptocurrency.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/kaspersky-ceo-cryptocurrencies-are-great-but-the-world-is-not-ready-yet

AB-CHAIN Market News: Cryptocurrency Markets See Substantial Price Drops Along The Board

All top 20 cryptocurrencies are deep in the red as bitcoin fails to hang onto 3,800 dollar mark, having touched the lower point of $3,733 earlier today. The overall market capitalization has slid down to $125 billion, from the $130 billion mark that was held earlier this week.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-markets-see-major-losses-while-stocks-rise-as-us-china-talks-expected-to-end

ETH scambots are back

If there is one thing that we did not miss in 2019 – it’s Ethereum scambots on Twitter. Well, guess what? They’re back sporting an all-new look but utilizing the same old technique – tricking users into navigating to some shady website promising free ETH after the user
“confirms” their own ETH address by sending some money to the attackers.

Be cautious online and don’t fall victim to scam!

https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/03/01/cryptocurrency-twitter-scammers-ethereum/

Demand for blockchain engineers rises 517 Percent Year-over-year

According to a report published by a recruitment company, the demand for blockchain tech specialists rises by a whopping 517 percent every year. Isn’t it a great indication that blockchain along with crypto are here to stay?

https://cointelegraph.com/news/global-demand-for-blockchain-engineers-up-517-percent-in-a-year-says-hired

AB-CHAIN market news

Following a short recovery attempt, most cryptocurrencies are in the red as Bitcoin loses about 1% in the last 24 hours, currently trading at $3,822. Unfortunately, the recent bullish trend did not last very long and the cryptocurrency market as a whole lost 2 billion dollars during the last price decline.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-markets-lose-2-billion-after-brief-recovery-attempt-us-stock-market-is-down

Bitcoin will be worth 1,000,000 USD??

According to John McAfee’s prediction that uses a corrected model based on the one he already used in 2017 and at the time, understated the crypto’s potential, McAfee now believes that Bitcoin can reach 1 million dollars by the end of 2020.

https://ambcrypto.com/bitcoin-btc-price-prediction-cryptocurrency-to-reach-new-heights-by-end-of-2021/

Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey recently made interesting statements about crypto that provoked a lot of controversy in the community. In fact, several interpretations of there comments appeared on the internet.
 
Forbes recently published an interesting article that tries to shed some light on what Musk and Dorsey were trying to communicate.
 
https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2019/02/21/what-elon-musks-and-jack-dorseys-surprising-bitcoin-comments-really-mean/

Are stablecoins the next big thing on the road to global crypto adoption?

 A California-based stablecoin startup published a report based on the data collected from 40 cryptocurrency and stablecoin companies.

The report suggests that “The development of stablecoins, price-stable cryptocurrencies, asset-backed cryptocurrencies etc. is likely to play a critical role in how this new economy achieves mainstream adoption,” and that countries with hyperinflation like Venezuela will be first to adopt the technology.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/stablecoins-to-play-key-role-in-crypto-adoption-says-new-report

An investor, billionaire and a famous crypto-bull, Tim Draper, predicts that in five years cryptocurrency will become so widely adopted, that only criminals will still use fiat currencies.

“The criminals will still want to operate with cash, because they catch everybody who is trying to use Bitcoin.”– says Draper.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/tim-draper-predicts-crypto-will-rule-only-criminals-will-use-cash-in-five-years

Is this the most optimistic bitcoin prediction?

Creator of a popular Chinese mining pool, Zhu Fa, stated that despite the present bearish market when the next cryptocurrency bull run happens, the Bitcoin price will be 10-20 times above the previous all-time high.

According to Fa, we can easily see the Bitcoin price reach $738,000.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/chinese-crypto-miner-predicts-that-bitcoin-could-reach-740k

A famous British historian, Niall Ferguson, argues that bitcoin “an Option on Digital Gold”

According to Ferguson, due to severe volatility Bitcoin can not be used as a major value exchange medium. However, due to its security and difficulty of confiscation, in the near future people will start storing it similarly to how European wealthy used to store gold jewelry and precious stones to secure their capital.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/british-financial-historian-niall-ferguson-says-bitcoin-is-an-option-on-digital-gold

According to Tom Lee’s prediction, crypto prices will have a noticeable recovery in 2019

In his study that examines the market since 2017, Tom Lee argues that “We see 9 incremental improvements in the landscape that ultimately support higher prices.” In his assessment, Tom Lee foresees the prices to bottom during 2019 but recover significantly by the end of the year.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/fundstrat-expects-2019-to-bring-incremental-improvements-supporting-higher-crypto-prices