Какой-то бардак твориться сейчас с ценой на токены Centra. Похоже цена 3.5 доллара месяц назад была просто пузырем, чтобы набежали хомяки, и им перепродать в три дорога, если рынок уже долгое время не готов платить больше 2 долларов за монету, значит продукт столько сейчас и стоит. Ведь нет еще той внутренней биржи и экосистемы, в которой эти токены должны доказать свою ценность.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets, in general, have been bearish during the first month of 2018 after many digital assets reached all-time price highs this past December. A lot of people have been following the correlation between the newly added bitcoin-based derivatives markets offered by Cboe and CME, alongside bitcoin spot prices over the past four weeks. Over the last few weeks, most of the bitcoin futures contracts have been bearish as traders forecasting the recent downtrend in value ‘shorted’ the market. However, according to recent data, bitcoin-futures bets are showing that a great majority of the contracts are betting ‘long’ on bitcoin’s price — predicting that BTC’s value will be rising shortly.

CFTC Report: Bitcoin Futures Contracts Are Overwhelmingly Bullish This week

The introduction of the recent futures markets stemming from Cboe and CME had brought a lot of hype and overheated trading to cryptocurrency markets. Following the launches bitcoin’s market value spike to $19K per BTC but since the new year, the currency has seen a 40 percent loss in value. Since the bitcoin derivatives products began, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has published reports on Cboe’s market performance. Since December the CFTC’s reports show that futures traders were betting against the price of BTC, indicating bearish sentiment and spot prices followed the contract predictions. This past Friday’s CFTC data tells a different story as the contracts are overwhelmingly bullish — meaning Cboe traders expect the price to rise.



This week’s CFTC report states that leveraged positions show 1,142 contracts are ‘long’ (betting the price will rise) while only 518 contracts are ‘short’ (betting the price will drop). The data is in stark contrast to the weeks prior when Cboe contracts bet way more ‘short’ as contract counts indicated shorts overwhelmed longs 4 to 1. Even news.Bitcoin.com’s weekly trading analyst, Eric Wall, has the same inclination as he writes in his most recent report:


Read more: https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-futures-report-shows-bullish-sentiment-is-in-the-air/

The very first UK Bitcoin robbery occurred when four armed men broke into a home and forced a crypto trader to transfer a “fortune” in Bitcoin.

The meteoric rise of Bitcoin over the course of 2017 featured a number of positive effects. A lot of people made a good deal of money, and media and public interest in cryptocurrency reached new heights. However, a downside to such attention is that criminals now see physically stealing Bitcoin or money used to buy crypto as a viable way to make money. A family in the UK found this out the hard way when four armed men broke into their home and forced the husband to transfer his bitcoins.

TERRIFYING ORDEAL

It’s being called the first Bitcoin robbery in the UK, and it took place in Moulsford, Oxfordshire, a wealthy enclave, during the morning hours. The criminals broke into the home belonging to a cryptocurrency trader and his family.

The criminals were armed with handguns and wearing balaclavas. They tied up the trader’s wife and put the couple’s baby outside in a pram before forcing the trader to transfer over a “fortune” in bitcoins. (The exact amount that was stolen has not been disclosed.)

The criminals then fled, and the police manhunt began immediately after. A police helicopter was used in an effort to locate the hoodlums, but to no avail. Nearby schools were put on lockdown. Police are asking for any camera footage that shows four suspicious males in the area during the early morning hours.

One woman apparently saw the criminals. She describes:


Read more: http://bitcoinist.com/masked-gunmen-steal-fortune-bitcoin-daylight-uk-robbery/

MARK.SPACE рад объявить о своем партнерстве с сингапурской биржей COSS  (листинг ~ весна 2018), а так же биржей HitBTC (листинг ~ апрель 2018).

В настоящий момент проходит Раунд 2 продажи токенов, MRK Токен - 0.08333 USD.
Раунд 2 продлиться до 7 Февраля, возможность приобрести токены с хорошей скидкой.

Russia's Finance Ministry has introduced a draft federal law on the regulation of digital assets and initial coin offerings.

The new proposal, published by the ministry on Jan. 25, outlines both requirements for projects that launch ICOs, as well as for investors who wish to participate in the token sales. Since it has been introduced by a government body, the draft must yet pass legislative bodies such as the Russian State Duma and Federation Council before becoming law.

According to the draft, while there would be no investment limit for investors who are licensed professionals in accordance with Russia's securities law, a 50,000 ruble (around $900) cap would be imposed for investors without qualification for each token issuance.

In addition, the proposed law states that ICO organizers in Russia must disclose various information in order to fully comply with the regulation, including the full name of the token issuer, the project's website and network provider, as well as permanent operating bodies of the organizer.

However, promotional activities prior to the token sale may be prohibited according to the proposed law, which states:


The new draft marks the latest movement in Russia towards the regulation of token sale activities. According to another explanation of the draft law, it has been based on instruction from Russia's President Putin issued on Oct. 21 last year.

The draft also follows up with a lawmaker's comment, made last December, in which he said that the country has been discussing plans to introduce new laws in regulating the field.

https://www.coindesk.com/russian-finance-ministry-proposes-draft-law-on-ico-regulation/

It’s official. Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck was hacked in what is believed to be the largest exchange theft ever carried out. This story is continually developing, but here’s what we know so far.

This Was the Largest Cryptocurrency Exchange Hack in History

In a press conference, Coincheck executives confirmed that the hackers absconded with more than 500 million NEM, worth approximately $530 million at the time of the hack, although Nikkei Veritas tweeted from the conference that the exact amount of funds stolen will not be known until officials conduct a detailed investigation.

The Coincheck hack supplanted Mt. Gox as the biggest cryptocurrency exchange hack in history. The Mt. Gox thief made off with approximately 850,000 bitcoins, worth roughly $450 million at the time.

Granted, the Mt. Gox hack was larger as a percentage of the total cryptocurrency market cap at the time of the theft, but in pure fiscal terms Coincheck now holds the infamous distinction of having been victim to the biggest cryptocurrency exchange hack in history.

As of the time of writing, the hacker had moved 300,000 XEM tokens to another address, and both addresses had been flagged with a mosaic warning other exchanges to not accept the funds.

Read more: https://www.ccn.com/biggest-theft-history-know-far-530-million-coincheck-hack/

Hi Manager, please add my stakes for the previous week (16-22 January), Caviar signature bounty campaign. I made all necessary posts for previous week. Thank you.

According to multiple reports back in October and December of last year, it was said that the financial institution Goldman Sachs had plans to create a bitcoin trading desk. Now a month later, Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of the firm, says the reports are “not true” speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos this past Wednesday.

Goldman Sachs CEO Denies Opening a Bitcoin Trading Desk

A while back in October, publications started rumors that the banking institution Goldman Sachs was planning to launch a cryptocurrency trading desk. Further, the story was bolstered even more so in December when the financial news outlet Bloomberg said Goldman would start the trading platform this coming June. According to those reports which cited sources “familiar with the matter” Goldman was “still trying to work out security issues as well as how it would hold, or custody, the assets.”

Moving forward to the 2018 World Economic Forum event held in Davos, Lloyd Blankfein explained to the press that the brokerage firm was not planning to open a digital asset trading desk and earlier reports were false.

“What we said was we were opening — We’re clearing futures in bitcoins for some of our futures clients — We’d clear them,” explains Blankfein.   


Read more: https://news.bitcoin.com/goldman-sachs-ceo-bitcoin-trading-desk-rumors-are-not-true/

As more FX traders are demanding access to the hottest market these days, all banks and brokers will have to respond sooner rather than later to keep their clients. Institutional technology providers are seeing this unfold and are starting to lay the groundwork for a new financial order.

Cryptocurrency is Now Completely Integral to FX Trading

Integral, the Palo Alto headquartered institutional FX cloud platform, has expanded its market data offering for cryptocurrencies to include fourteen major cryptocurrencies. It now covers bitcoin, bitcoin cash, Ethereum and more, connecting to sixteen major exchange sources across the U.S., Europe and Asia, including Japan and Hong Kong.

“An accurate, stable, and reliable reference price is a requirement for any market maker,” said Harpal Sandhu, CEO of Integral. “The Cryptocurrency Market Data Service connects to the most price sources and applies the most advanced price discovery algorithm available.”

Founded in 1993, Integral maintains offices in California, New York, London, Tokyo, Singapore and Bangalore. It is the financial technology partner of many banks, brokers, and investment managers who rely on it to design and deliver their FX operations. Among its over sixty FX client banks around the world, it lists the U.S’ Wells Fargo, Japan’s Mizuho and Israel’s Hapoalim.

Read more: https://news.bitcoin.com/fx-platform-integral-now-covers-bitcoin-bch-dozen-cryptocurrencies/

Ottawa police are seeking two suspects after an attempted armed robbery at a cryptocurrency exchange.

Three people entered the offices of Canadian Bitcoins in Ottowa carrying handguns and restrained four employees on Tuesday morning, according to CBC News. At that point, they attempted to compel one of the employees to make an outbound transaction from the exchange. A fifth employee called police before any assets could be taken, police told the news service.

One suspect has been arrested and charged, according to police. The charges include robbery with a firearm and forcible confinement.

The names of the suspects were not released.

CBC News reported in a Facebook post that the suspects were looking for physical cash, but other armed robberies have successfully made off with cryptocurrency wallets.

The New York District Attorney's Office filed armed robbery and kidnapping charges against New Jersey native Louis Meza after he allegedly stole more than $1.8 million of ether last November. In the filing, the DA's office claimed Meza held his victim at gunpoint, forcing him to turn over a cell phone and private keys, which he used to access the victim's digital wallet.

https://www.coindesk.com/canadian-bitcoin-exchange-hit-armed-robbers-police-say/

Despite the warnings of the Israeli regulator that it won’t tolerate bitcoin to get somehow backdoor listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, public companies keep pivoting into the field. The latest example is a firm that focused on oil refineries until now. All of a sudden it announced plans to sell bitcoin ATMs to casinos in Turkish occupied Northern Cyprus, and possibly Nigeria.

Bitcoin Is the New Oil

Chiron Refineries LTD (TASE:CHR), a company which focuses on developing oil refineries in Africa, has announced to investors on Tuesday morning that it is entering the cryptocurrency market and its stock price quickly jumped up close to 60%. After an apparent prodding by the regulator the company issued a second announcement at the end of the trading day with extra information about the move.

Chiron, which only on Sunday reported an agreement to build a new oil refinery in Nigeria, has now decided to diversify its business into the “cryptocurrency accessibility” sector. The company signed an agreement with Crypto Technologies Ltd to set up a subsidiary in Northern Cyprus (the Turkish occupied part of the island), to be the sole distributor of its produces in the territory as well as Turkey itself. It also acquired an option to expand the distribution business to Nigeria within 12 months of the agreement.

Read more: https://news.bitcoin.com/oil-company-wants-to-sell-bitcoin-atms-to-casinos-stock-jumps-60/

Global Blockchain Business Council and Survey Monkey teamed for an appraisal of American attitudes toward the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, bitcoin. Awareness of the decentralized currency is way up, but those who actually own the digital asset remains relatively low.

Americans More Bitcoin Aware, But Remain on Sidelines

During the second week of this year, 5,761 adults were polled about their attitudes toward bitcoin. Survey Monkey, one of the partners, selects “from the nearly 3 million people who take surveys on the Survey Monkey platform each day,” their methodology website tab explains. “Data have been weighted for age, race, sex, education, and geography using the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to reflect the demographic composition of the United States. The modeled error estimate for this survey is plus or minus 2 percentage points.”

The last time such a large survey was conducted, back in 2013 by the firm On Device in preparation for a London conference, bitcoin awareness by americans languished at 25%. True enough, the first decentralized virtual currency was only about four years old, but there seemed at the time to have been sufficient press coverage warranting greater familiarity.

By 2018, not quite a decade into its tenure, bitcoin awareness has jumped by more than twice that number according to Survey Monkey and Global Blockchain Business Council. And though brand acknowledgement is growing, actual participation seems somewhat low. Nearly six in ten respondents revealed they’d at heard of bitcoin, up some 33 points from 2013’s measure (the two surveys are not linked). More than 5,000 people participated in the current questionnaire.

Read more: https://news.bitcoin.com/survey-60-of-americans-have-heard-of-bitcoin-5-own/

The South Korea government has today issued fines totaling 141 million won ($130,000) to domestic cryptocurrency exchanges for providing insufficient user data protection.

In a public announcement, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) said the penalty is a result of an investigation that the agency conducted from Oct. 10 to Dec. 28 in 2017 across 10 domestic crypto exchanges. Launched as a ministry-level agency, KCC is responsible for regulating the broadcasting and telecommunications sector, as well citizen's information protection.

Among the 10 surveyed companies, eight were found to be violating the Information and Communication Network Act, which mandates user privacy protection methods, according to the announcement.

The eight penalized companies are: Upbit, Ripple4y, Coinpia, Youbit, Korbit, Coinone and Coinplug, as well as Eyalabs, a cryptocurrency wallet service. According to the agency, the individual fines range from $9,000 to $14,000.

The announcement details that critical violations include some exchanges failing to delete users' data even when they had stopped using the service for over a year, and some others storing users' data outside of the country.

KCC chairman Lee Hyo-Sung said:

The KCC subsequently required these exchanges to take actions in resolving the issue within 30 days and file reports to the agency. In addition, the regulator said it will draw up and implement plans pertaining to managing cryptocurrency wallets, private keys and cryptocurrency transactions to serve as administrative guidance for exchanges.

While the amount of the individual fines may not be significant, the move arrives just a day after the country's financial watchdog set a date for the formal cessation of anonymous cryptocurrency trading, yet another signal of the effort underway by the country's authorities to increase regulation of cryptocurrency exchanges.

https://www.coindesk.com/korean-regulator-fines-crypto-exchanges-over-privacy-failures/

A state senator in the U.S. state of Virginia has filed new legislation that would mandate an impact study on cryptocurrencies.

A new bill introduced by Glen Sturtevant would launch a study, which, if approved, would seek to assess how the growth of cryptocurrencies and their use impacts everyday Virginians. The bill has been sent to the State Senate's Rules Committee for assessment, public records show.

At its heart, the measure queries whether lawmakers "should establish a system to protect the citizens of the Commonwealth from any existing or potential adverse effects from engaging in transactions involving cryptocurrencies." The study, according to Sturtevant's bill, would be the first step toward creating such a system.

As the bill's text explains:

It's not entirely clear which rules or regulations Virginia might turn to should the study call for tighter controls. The State Corporation Commission is the body in Virginia responsible for approving and overseeing state-based money transmission businesses, indicating that it could ultimately move to modify or strengthen its statutes in that area.

Indeed, the technology has found fans on the local government side in Virginia. As reported last week, local officials in the city of Virginia Beach have granted funds to a bitcoin mine as part of an effort to spur job growth.

https://www.coindesk.com/virginia-lawmaker-calls-new-cryptocurrency-impact-study/

Hi manager, please update signature bounty stakes. I supported your project from 16 January till now.

Relief! Korean Banks to Issue New Cryptocurrency Trading Accounts; Anonymous Trading Ban on Jan 30

South Korea will enforce its ban on anonymous bank accounts used in cryptocurrency trading in a week from now. In conjunction, six domestic banks will issue new trading accounts that follow KYC norms.

According to multiple reports on Tuesday, South Korean regulators have rubberstamped the ban on anonymous cryptocurrency trading through anonymous virtual bank accounts in the country. Strictly speaking, the long-anticipated move will not allow  traders to make deposits into their wallets at domestic cryptocurrency exchanges unless their names on their depositing bank accounts matches the account name at cryptocurrency exchanges.

In tandem, at least six South Korean banks will issue new trading accounts for cryptocurrency transactions on January 30. As banks rollout these new accounts with a system that will match names between banking and crypto-exchange accounts, existing anonymous virtual accounts will be banned on the same day, Financial Services Commission (FSC) vice-chairman Kim Yong-beom told reporters today.

The six banks will include NH Bank, the Industrial Bank of Korea and, as reported previously, Shinhan Bank – Korea’s second largest financial institution.

Enforcing the real-name trading system will also mandate cryptocurrency exchanges to share the users’ transaction data with the banks. This move is reportedly a part of the government’s ongoing scrutiny into ‘speculative investments’ by much of Korean society into cryptocurrencies.

While Korea’s Justice Ministry called for an outright ban on cryptocurrency trading and exchanges, other lawmakers and regulators have dismissed the hardline approach. South Korea’s Presidential Office weighed in on the topic, stressing that a sweeping ban was one of several measures being considered for regulating the cryptocurrency sector.

Today’s announcement from the South Korean government further hints at a policy that is unlikely to include that sweeping ban, which will now only extend to non-Korean nationals and anonymous trading.

“Nobody, including the government, guarantees the value of cryptocurrencies,” FSC’s Kim Yong-beom stated today, resorting to cautioning adopters of investments rather than any warning of a ban. “Given its highly volatile nature, please be cautious when making investment decisions.”

The news will come as a relief to cryptocurrency adopters and exchanges alike. According to Yonhap, major Korean exchange Bithumb is welcoming the government’s new policy, with a statement that read:

https://www.ccn.com/relief-korean-banks-issue-new-cryptocurrency-trading-accounts-anonymous-ban-jan-30/

Peter Boockvar, the Chief Investment Officer at Bleakley Advisory Group, sees the potential for Bitcoin (BTC) to be around for a long time, but with a significant price drop coming when the Bitcoin bubble bursts, according to CNBC.

Boockvar sees a possible 70 to 90 percent price drop for Bitcoin this year, saying:

“Over the next year I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s BTC down to $1,000 to $3,000.”

When asked if the stock market would crash in the event of a significant fall in Bitcoin’s price, Boockvar said that any corresponding drop would just be psychological, because Bitcoin is “not something that really is that relevant in a 19 trillion dollar economy.”

However, he adds that people in South Korea, Japan, and the US who have been taking on credit card debt in order to invest in cryptocurrency will be hit hard.

Boockvar told CNBC that the boom in crypto markets can be attributed to easy-money policies of central banks and money printing. These moves make some cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, more attractive to investors, due to the fact that they are both finite and safe from debasement and inflation.

People have long questioned whether Bitcoin fits the mold of a traditional “bubble.” Yale economist Robert Shiller, who won a Nobel prize for his work on financial bubbles, used Bitcoin as an example of a bubble in September 2017. However, in January 2018, Shiller then said that he didn’t know what to make of Bitcoin, adding that it could be around for another 100 years.

BTC is trading at around $11,820 at press time, down about 1.52 percent over a 24 hour period.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-to-drop-as-low-as-1000-this-year-wall-street-cio-predicts

Не понимаю, почему постоянно блокируется англоязычная ветка Centra  на форуме. Считаю проект прекрасный, перспективы атомные, но есть к ним вопросы. Как там дела с судом в отношении них, когда они уже скажут кто издатель карты, разве это может быть секретом? Или боятся что Виза прикроет ввод/вывод когда узнает издателя карт? Постоянно смотрю их видео отчеты, в мелочах видно, что они пришли всерьез и надолго, брендинг офиса, металлическая карта вместо пластиковой. Цена токена как назло упала вообще по не понятным причинам, их система работает, в отличии от Tenx, чего цене падать...

The cryptocurrency community is celebrating what may have been the first ever transaction on the Bitcoin Lightning Network’s (LN) mainnet. Additionally, the good news is that the Bitcoin payment operation was, “instantaneous and fee-free.”

LN TRANSACTIONS PROVE TO BE CHEAP AND FASTER

The cryptocurrency community is becoming increasingly enthusiastic about the LN implementation because it promises to significantly lower Bitcoin’s transaction fees while making possible near-instant transactions.

Social media is humming with news references to LN technology progress. And, when Reddit user btc_throwaway1337 announced that he had successfully used the LN mainnet to make a purchase, crypto enthusiasts rewarded the news with over one thousand five hundred upvotes.

Specifically, user btc_throwaway1337 announced:

He described the purchase experience as follows:


User btc_throwaway1337 also submitted proof of the purchase, shown here, indicating that the funding transaction for the channel cost about $2.40 USD.

And, because TorGuard already has channels open with vendors and users, he was able to use the same channel for routing payments to/from others.

TorGuard is a provider of anonymous Virtual Private Network (VPN), proxy, and email services.

Read more: http://bitcoinist.com/lightning-network-happening-first-physical-item-purchased-ln/

India's government has reportedly sent tax notices to cryptocurrency traders and investors following a nationwide survey.

According to Reuters, a survey found that Indian citizens conducted more than $3.5 billion worth of trades and other transactions across a 17-month period. The government also collected data from nine exchanges within the country, and per the report, notices have been issued to "tens of thousands of people."

As a result, India is now looking to tax capital gains, as well as receive information about how much people own in cryptocurrencies and where their funds are located.

Indian officials have suspected that cryptocurrency traders were evading taxes, and in an effort to fight back, they collected data last month to try and identify users, as previously reported by CoinDesk.

At the time, the Indian Income Tax Department said it was also looking for instances of money laundering.

While officials have decried bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the past, India’s official stance remains unclear. Attempts to clarify its status have been made, with at least two petitions and an Indian Supreme Court note all asking for some guidance on regulations.

Despite these moves, India has not released any new regulations surrounding the trade of cryptocurrency. According to Reuters, a state tax official, B.R. Balakrishnan, said the tax authority could not wait for an official statement from the government.

"We cannot turn a blind eye. It would have been disastrous to wait until the final verdict was out on its legality ... We found that investors were not reflecting [cryptocurrency gains] and in many cases, the investment was not accounted for," Balakrishnan told the publication.

https://www.coindesk.com/report-indias-government-sends-tax-notices-to-cryptocurrency-traders/