A top Goldman Sachs executive looked to clear the air Thursday about the bank’s cryptocurrency ambitions after reports that it was abandoning plans to open a trading desk for cryptocurrencies.

“I never thought I would hear myself use this term but I really have to describe that news as fake news,” Goldman Sachs Chief Financial Officer Martin Chavez said on stage at the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference in San Francisco.

The CFO said Goldman is working on a type of derivative for bitcoin because “clients want it.”

“The next stage of the exploration is what we call non-deliverable forwards, these are over the counter derivatives, they’re settled in U.S. dollars and the reference price is the bitcoin-U.S. dollar price established by a set of exchanges,” Chavez said.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/06/goldman-sachs-cfo-calls-reports-of-shutting-down-crypto-desk-fake-news.html

A new presidential decree legalizes cryptocurrency trading in Uzbekistan, introducing licensing for crypto exchanges and a set of requirements they will be obliged to meet. To operate in the country, foreign trading platforms will have to establish local subsidiaries and abide by the country’s relevant laws.

Decree Introduces Licensing for Crypto Exchanges

Uzbekistan’s President, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has signed a decree legalizing the activities of cryptocurrency exchanges, local and regional media reported. The document introduces a licensing regime for trading platforms as well as a number of requirements they need to meet in order to be allowed to operate in the Central Asian country. It comes after an earlier decree issued in July prepared the legal grounds for regulating crypto-related activities.

The decree “On measures to organize the activities of crypto-exchanges in Uzbekistan”, № ПП-3926 from September 2, states that an organization which provides an electronic platform for the exchange, purchase and sale of crypto assets is recognized as crypto exchange in Uzbekistan. The legal document defines ‘crypto assets’ as a set of records in a blockchain that has value and owner.

Read more: https://news.bitcoin.com/uzbekistan-legalizes-crypto-exchanges-and-trading/

The list of indicators signaling a long-term bullish reversal in bitcoin (BTC) continues to grow with each passing week.

The latest to join the list is the MACD histogram, which has moved above zero – turned bullish – for the first time since January. The MACD, which oscillates above and below the zero line, is one of the most popular technical indicators used to determine a trend's reversal and momentum.

A bearish-to-bullish trend change is confirmed when the histogram moves above the zero line. On the other hand, a bearish reversal is confirmed when it dips below zero.

The bullish turn of the MACD adds credence to BTC's strong defense of the psychological support of $6,000 in the last 10 weeks.

Further, it validates bearish exhaustion indicated by BTC's long-tailed monthly candle and the record low net shorts in the BTC futures market.

At press time, BTC is trading at $7,320 on Bitfinex, representing a 0.8 percent appreciation on a 24-hour basis.

Read more: https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-indicator-turns-bullish-for-first-time-in-8-months/

 MARK token (MRK) был добавлен на биржу Qryptos. Qryptos объединилась с Quoinex чтобы стать  Liquid.com. Биржа Qryptos будет недоступна 4 Сентября примерно до 24 часов для слияния с новой биржей. Все MRK должны безопасно перейти на Liquid.com. Ваш текущий логин и 2FA должны работать на новой бирже.

Walmart's recent patent efforts have showcased how the retail giant is investigating blockchain, and a new filing points to a focus on autonomous delivery drones.

The application was published on August 30, detailing a system by which "autonomous electronic devices" communicate with each other wirelessly and pass transported objects to each other after an identification process.

After one drone travels to a specific spot where another one is located, they exchange authentication signals using "blockchain keys," and if the first robot successfully recognizes its "co-worker," it passes it the package. Drones would rely on a database of delivery information stored on whichever blockchain the company is operating.

To identify each other, robots use can use a variety means to actually send signals from one to the other, including RFID codes, QR codes or ultrasound, the patent filing says.

Read more: https://www.coindesk.com/walmart-explores-blockchain-for-connecting-automated-delivery-drones/

One of the world’s largest financial groups, Japanese company Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, has been trialing its own cryptocurrency.

The company has made its own Mufg coin available for payments by employees at its headquarters own convenience store in its Tokyo HQ. The experiment is said to be going well according to the company and “is quietly advancing” as Mitsubishi UFJ tests out whether either purchasers or merchant come across any issues.

Employees use the coin by simply scanning a QR code on their smartphones at checkout. The coins can also be used to exchange money between workers at the store. The coin is currently pegged to the Japanese yen at 1:1.

The company is carrying out the test to examine how blockchain may improve transactions such as payments and withdrawals, commenting:

“Potentially this coin could have large-scale commercial potential, as well serving small-scale retail bank customers. Other than Mufg coin, Mufg is testing another untitled digital currency rewards [program] for employees who reduce their overtime hours and practise a healthy lifestyle.”

Mufg has total assets of JPY 306 trillion (USD 2.76 trillion). Mufg Bank is Japan’s largest, operating in 40 countries outside of the country. The fact that that the bank is looking at looking at an internal cryptocurrency payment system, with a view to its wider applications within the company’s overall system, is sure to make significant ripples around Japan’s financial and banking sector.

The company stated that one reason for the coin trials stemmed from their obvious simplicity of use and convenience when compared to that of traditional fiat currency and banknotes, also providing the user and merchant a low-cost transaction option. These coins would offer the user “instantaneous transfer capabilities”.

Last year, Mufg president Nobuyuku Hirano suggested when the trials were forecast that the bank was planning to “overcome issues of virtual currencies and create a highly useful currency”. This is another indication of how Japanese acceptance of Bitcoin has filtered down to large corporations who are now beginning to examine cryptocurrency’s potential within financial systems in the country.

https://bitcoinnews.com/japans-largest-financial-group-trials-own-cryptocurrency/

Я как-то тоже пропустил сотрудничество с Enigma, и стыдно признать, даже не слышал раньше об этом проекте. У них довольно внушительная по текущим временам капа в 62$ m, и судя по графику инвесторы продолжают холдить и верить в монету ENG.

Multi-award winning rap artist Eminem has just released his latest album, Kamikaze. On one of the tracks, collaborator Royce Da 5’9′ mentions Bitcoin in a light that is rare to see.

Bitcoin Takes Another Step Towards Mainstream Acceptance

Since the bull market of 2017, both news coverage and mentions of Bitcoin in popular culture have increased tremendously.

The latest example of the world’s number one digital currency moving into the mainstream is on Eminem’s latest record, which dropped last night.

The mention comes during the ninth song on the album. The track is called “Not Alike” and is a collaboration between the formerly peroxide-adorned enemy of angsty teenagers’ parents everywhere and lesser known rapper Royce Da 5’9′. During the number, Royce states:

“Remember everybody used to bite Nickel, now everybody doing bitcoin.”

What is interesting about this particular reference is that Bitcoin is not phrased as some bizarre niche or criminal activity. He literally says everyone is doing it.

Previous mentions of Bitcoin in popular culture have often presented it as something far too complicated for the average person. This was the case with the comic Ellen DeGeneres’s section on the technology on the “Ellen” show. In other instances, as on the audience-dividing Big Bang Theory, it was presented as the domain of the strictly geeky.

Elsewhere, there have been numerous references to the shadowy early days of Bitcoin made in popular culture. One such example is the 2015 comedy-drama movie Dope. The plot features a main character who gets into the world of drug dealing on the dark web using the cryptocurrency as a payment method.

Finally, another side of Bitcoin popularly portrayed in the entertainment industry is that embodied by the “get-rich-quick” crowd. In an episode of “Family Guy”, Peter Griffin suggests that Bitcoin might be the answer to the family’s financial difficulties.

According to new research reported by Forbes, the bitcoin price moves with a high degree of alignment to its Google searches. The study was performed by Joost van der Burgt of the Dutch National Bank. He told the publication:

“If the buzz is everywhere, it doesn’t matter exactly what the news is about… nobody wants to miss out and everybody’s trying to get a piece of it.”

Such mentions like that on Eminem’s Kamikaze encourage people to research Bitcoin more fully.

Read more: https://www.newsbtc.com/2018/09/01/eminems-latest-album-kamikaze-name-checks-bitcoin/

Интересно, когда мы уже достигнем дна и начнется рост. Сейчас многие прошлогодние альткоины нарисовали хорошую поддержку, и уже сделали 2-3x от дна. Но MRK пока только падает, уже месяц от команды никаких новостей в соц. сетях о прогрессе разработки.

На Бибоксе можно покупать монеты DXT, проверенно, если свеча пробивает вашу цену, ордер выполняется как положено. Там есть свой косяк, залогиниться очень трудно, иногда с пятого раза получается. Ввод-Вывод Ефириума происходит нормально.

Что Вы думаете о перспективах данного токена, кто какой прогноз по нему может дать на этот год? Вроде монетизация персональных данных интересное направление.

Initial coin offering advisory firm Satis Group believes bitcoin's price might jump to $96,000 over the next five years, according to a new report.

Satis Group published the latest report in its five-part analysis of the cryptocurrency ecosystem Friday, this time examining how the cryptocurrency market is valued and whether this valuation matches the actual assets underlying token prices. The report, written by researchers Sherwin Dowlat and Michael Hodapp, also created predictions for how the market might look over the next few years.

Notably, the report attempted to predict how different cryptocurrency prices might look over the next five years if valued based on the underlying assets rather than speculation, saying that coins like bitcoin, monero and decred should see their prices spike as they are "cryptoassets which apply unique value propositions within deep and viral markets."

On the other hand, the researchers believe that coins like bitcoin cash and other "cryptoassets which attempt to inherit brand recognition and provide minimal technological advantage to incumbents" will drop. Coins like XRP received the harshest predictions, with the Satis Group saying the token would drop to $0.01.

The report explained:


Read more: https://www.coindesk.com/ico-advisor-satis-claims-96k-bitcoin-price-possible-in-5-years/

The California Legislature has passed Assembly Bill 2658, which provides a legal framework for the recognition of blockchain technology in the state’s insurance code.

Introduced by Democrat Ian Calderon, the bill sought to amend Sections 1624.5, 1633.2, and 1633.75 of the Civil Code, Section 25612.5 of the Corporations Code, Section 16.5 of the Government Code, and Section 38.6 of the Insurance Code, with relation to blockchain technology, electronic signatures, and smart contracts.

New Inclusions and Definitions

Under previously-existing California law, the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act offered legal protection and enforceability to the use of electronic signatures in creating contracts, specifying that in the events of a requirement for writing or a signature, an electronic record or signature should suffice.

No mention was made, however, of electronic records or signatures secured using blockchain technology, which was a point of legal ambiguity for blockchain-based businesses. The new bill expands the definition of “contract” under California law to include “smart contract,” which provides legal basis for use of blockchain-based electronic signatures in sealing contracts.

It also specifies that any individual doing interstate or foreign commerce using blockchain technology to secure information they own or have rights to has access to the same ownership and usage rights in California.

Read more: https://www.ccn.com/california-legislature-passes-blockchain-working-group-bill/

According to a recent study, Stanford University boasts the highest number of cryptocurrency classes among top global universities.

A recent study carried out by Coinbase, in conjunction with the research firm Qriously, shows that Stanford University boasts the most crypto related courses among the world’s premier academic institutions.

The study illustrates the proliferation of crypto-related classes across higher education. Also of note is the wide spectrum of disciplines within which crypto is studied, from the sciences to the humanities:


The chart below details the spread of crypto class across the disciplines:



Read more: https://bitcoinist.com/stanford-offers-most-crypto-classes/

Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has announced the formation of a data consortium in partnership with IBM and law firm Herbert Smith Freehills for the purpose of building a groundbreaking large-scale, cross-industry smart contract platform for Australian businesses to collaborate and do business within.

Australian National Blockchain

The platform, which will be called the Australian National Blockchain (ANB) is being touted as potentially game-changing infrastructure within Australia’s digital economy, helping businesses around the country make use of legally-enforceable smart contracts and exchange data, as well as confirm the status and authenticity of legal contracts.

When it is fully operational, the ANB will permit Australian businesses to electronically manage the entire life cycle of a smart contract from negotiation through to execution under complete transparency and trustless, permissioned-based access among parties on the platform.

In other words, Australian businesses will gain the ability to use smart contracts to automatically trigger business events and processes using preset milestones. The smart legal contracts (SLC) provided by ANB include clauses to accommodate recording of information from external data sources such as IoT devices, with the ability to self-execute once conditions listed in the contract are met.

This is an extension of CSIRO’s extensive research into potential applications of blockchain technology for Australian businesses. In 2017, the Institute’s Data61 research unit released comprehensive research reports for the Australian Treasury detailing strategies for blockchain technology adoption across government and commercial applications in Australia.

Read more: https://www.ccn.com/australia-will-develop-a-nationwide-blockchain-platform/

Digital payments firm Square has won a patent for a payment network that allows merchants to accept payments in any currency, including bitcoin or another cryptocurrency.

Square Wins Patent for Crypto Payment Network

Public documents published on Aug. 21 show that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) has approved Square’s application to patent a system that allows merchants to accept cryptocurrencies alongside conventional payment methods and cash out in their currency of choice. The San Francisco-based firm first filed for the patent in Sept. 2017.

From the patent:


Square would not be the first payment processor to allow merchants to accept payments in cryptocurrency that are automatically converted into local currency. BitPay, for instance, has been processing bitcoin payments since 2011.

However, Square already has tremendous market penetration, so adding cryptocurrency payments to its present POS system would allow millions of merchants to accept bitcoin without having to onboard to another payment processor or manually convert cryptocurrency funds into fiat.

Read more: https://www.ccn.com/bitcoin-accepted-everywhere-square-wins-patent-for-cryptocurrency-payment-network/

A new survey from Deloitte found that 40 percent of executives from the telecom, media and technology (TMT) space want to invest millions in blockchain research during the next year.

Published Tuesday morning, the findings – included in a report from the Deloitte Center for Technology, Media & Telecommunications – form part of a wider look into how the technology could be applied to those business sectors.

To that end, the researchers behind the report surveyed 1,053 executives in seven countries, including 180 from TMT firms. They found that 84 percent of all respondents "believe that blockchain will broadly scale and reach mainstream adoption."

Roughly 59 percent say they think blockchain could disrupt their specific industries, and 29 percent of all respondents have "already joined a blockchain consortium," according to the report.

Further, overall interest in blockchain has grown as well, according to Deloitte's findings. The firm predicted that revenue for blockchain companies would grow from $340 million in 2017 to as much as $2.3 billion by 2021.

Deloitte's report included other data points highlighting the interest on the financing side of things. In the first six months of 2018 alone, venture capitalists have funded blockchain startups to the tune of $1.3 billion.

Developers are also increasingly looking into the technology, the report found, saying that "since 2009, the number of blockchain projects on the open-source development platform GitHub has grown significantly."

In 2016, developers produced 27,000 new projects, according to Deloitte.

https://www.coindesk.com/deloitte-report-outlines-potential-blockchain-use-cases-for-telecom-industry/

Willy Woo, a cryptocurrency researcher and respected investor, has said that the 2018 Bitcoin correction will not turn out to be like the 2014 slump, when the price of Bitcoin dropped 90 percent and remained in a low price range for several years.

In essence, Woo stated that the structure of the cryptocurrency exchange market in 2018 is significantly different than four years ago.

2014 Vs. 2018: What is Different?

In 2014, Bitcoin suffered the worst correction in its history, dropping by 90 percent and remaining in a low price range for several years until 2017. Based on historical evidence and the tendency of Bitcoin to take a year or two to properly recover from its major corrections, some experts have suggested that Bitcoin will not be able to rebound speedily by the end of 2018.

Woo emphasized that in 2014, the correction of Bitcoin was intensified by the bankruptcy of Mt. Gox, the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange that had complete dominance over the Bitcoin market.

At the time, Mt. Gox handled 90 percent of BTC trades in the global market with extremely poor internal management systems and virtually non-existent security measures.

Consequently, as Mt. Gox experienced a billion dollar hacking attack and declared bankruptcy, the cryptocurrency market fell and BTC struggled to recover for two years thereafter.

However, throughout 2018, a growing number of institutional investors have continued to show growing demand for cryptocurrencies as an emerging asset class and the digital asset industry has seen the efforts of companies like Coinbase and Gemini to lure in investors in the broader financial market to Bitcoin.

More importantly, the New York Stock Exchange, Microsoft, and Starbucks launched a joint initiative called Bakkt in order to improve the usability and adoption of cryptocurrencies worldwide.

One of the first initiatiives Bakkt has led in August is assisting major cryptocurrency exchanges in finding a trusted price formation of digital assets, which experts believe will drastically increase the probability of an ETF approval.

“Another view on a long recovery. Worth bearing in mind 2014-2015 was detoxing from a MtGox collapse; traded 90% of world volume. Plus 1/8 of all BTC stolen plus Willybot pumping prices. Systemically, Bitcoin 2018 is much healthier than Bitcoin 2014,” Woo said.

Read more: https://www.newsbtc.com/2018/08/27/prominent-analyst-bitcoin-is-significantly-healthier-in-2018-than-2014-optimistic/

Команда по прежнему работает сверхурочно над платформой, заключает партнерства, создает контент.

6 Сентября 2018, Datawallet едет на выставку Dezentral в Берлине. CEO Serafin Engel будет выступать, там будет стенд компании и члены команды. 10% скидка на билеты конференции по коду: DatawalletxDezentral

Singapore's Central Bank Partners with Nasdaq, Deloitte on Settling Tokenized Assets

Singapore’s Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country’s central banking institution, has teamed up with major firms. The project hopes to develop solutions for the exchange and settlement of tokenized digital currencies, as well as securities assets.

SINGAPORE IS LOOKING PROMISING FOR CRYPTOCURRENCIES

Earlier in May, Bitcoinist reported that the MAS, which is the city-state’s de facto central bank, proposed regulatory changes which would supposedly green-light blockchain related exchanges.

MAS, alongside the Singapore Exchange (SGX), has revealed a collaboration with marquee companies like Deloitte, NASDAQ, and Anquan, to develop solutions for simultaneous exchange and final settlement of digital currencies, as well as security assets. The project’s main intention is to reduce the risks associated with settlement, all while improving operational efficiency.

Speaking on the matter, Sopnendu Mohanty, the Chief FinTech Officer of MAS said:


Read more: https://bitcoinist.com/singapores-central-bank-partners-with-nasdaq-deloitte-on-settling-tokenized-assets/

The new head of Japan’s primary financial regulator has backed the domestic cryptocurrency sector to grow while ruling out ‘excessive’ regulation for exchanges.

In statements certain to encourage the domestic cryptocurrency sector, Toshihide Endo, the newly appointed commissioner of Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA), told Reuters that the authority is aiming to ‘strike a balance’ between protecting consumers while promoting innovation within the sector without restrictive policies targeting cryptocurrency exchanges.

The regulatory chief told Reuters:


Read more: https://www.ccn.com/no-excessive-regulation-japans-new-fsa-chief-backs-crypto-industry-growth/