There's projects like RSK that will help Bitcoin increase its tps to up to 100 tps. Other than that, btc has lost a lot of dominance compared to before.

Interesting masternode coin. I like the name, but what value can we expect from it? As in how will it grow?

They sell their machines for cheap to us plebs meanwhile they get to use the next generation of chips with much faster MH/s than the ones we get to buy lol. It's like whales eating planktons(us being the plankton)

Elix is overvalued 40 Million for nothing 0 usefull featues with noob dev, the price is manipulated by a bunch of scammers that bought it cheap in early stages and $40m isn't a low cap 

Token sale officially closed, GATCOIN reaches US$14.5m hard cap, congrats Gatcoin team and supporters.

SEOUL — The world of bitcoin — rarely free of wild ups and downs of late — has been rattled this week by word that South Korea is preparing a ban on trading in virtual currencies.

The question is how real that threat might be.

South Koreans have taken to digital tokens with fervour. The worldwide virtual currency boom that started last year has swept up savers young and old in South Korea, helping push up global prices.

The government has expressed alarm. Officials, including the prime minister, have voiced concerns about an irrational frenzy. Raids by South Korean tax officials on digital currency exchanges this week have added to unease among investors.

"I am so nervous," said Kim Su-jin, a 50-year-old investor in bitcoin and other virtual currencies who works as a bookkeeper at a women's clothing store in Seoul. "My coins could become trash if the government closes the exchanges."

But South Korea does not appear to be done with cryptocurrencies quite yet. Several political leaders have already aired their opposition to a ban on bitcoin trades, indicating that the public enthusiasm for virtual currencies just might be strong enough to shield them from further government intervention.

WHAT MIGHT SOUTH KOREA DO?

The country's justice minister, Park Sang-ki, said this week that his ministry was drawing up a bill that would include the complete shutdown of virtual currency exchanges, adding that trading in the tokens "has started to resemble gambling and speculation."

The most popular bitcoin exchanges in South Korea process hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of transactions every day. Trades using the Korean won account for around 5 per cent of the volume of bitcoin trades globally.

WILL THE GOVERNMENT PURSUE A BAN?

For now, authorities do not appear to be of one mind on the subject. After Mr Park's comments Thursday, a spokesman for President Moon Jae-in clarified that the Justice Ministry's plan was not final, according to the Yonhap news agency.

Then, on Friday (Jan 12), Kim Dong-yeon, the finance minister, emphasised that other ministries would be expected to confer on the Justice Ministry's proposal, Yonhap reported.

WILL LAWMAKERS SUPPORT IT?

At the very least, a ban would not be passed quickly: Securing a majority of votes in the National Assembly could take months.

More to the point, several lawmakers from major parties signalled this week that they would not support a crackdown. Park Young-sun, a member of the governing party who has no relation to the justice minister, wrote on her Facebook page that closing the exchanges would be like "setting fire to a straw-roofed house to catch a bedbug." Ha Tae-kyung, a legislator with the opposition Bareun Party, wrote on Facebook that criminaliSing virtual currencies would fly in the face of the administration's claims to support new technologies.

South Korean citizens have also voiced their opposition to a potential clampdown by signing petitions with the president's office. The most popular of these has garnered more than 120,000 signatures.

"The power of the individual investor is very huge in South Korea," said Simon Seojoon Kim, chief executive of Hashed, a fund in Seoul that invests in virtual currency projects.

WHAT PROMPTED THE INVESTIGATIONS?

The National Tax Service in South Korea declined to comment on why its representatives visited two major virtual currency exchanges, Bithumb and Coinone, this week. But Shin Won-hee, head of operations at Coinone, said tax authorities had wanted to check that the company had paid proper corporate tax.

Bithumb told local news outlets that it was cooperating with the investigation.

Separately, police in Gyeonggi province, which surrounds Seoul, have been investigating whether Coinone is operating "a gambling site." The company had previously allowed investors to buy and sell virtual currencies on margin — that is, to place bets using borrowed money. But Mr Shin said that Coinone decided in November to stop allowing margin trading as government officials began expressing concerns about market overheating.

WHY IS BITCOIN MORE EXPENSIVE IN SOUTH KOREA?

Mr Park, the justice minister, said this week that the depths of South Korean investors' irrationality was reflected in the high premium — around 30 per cent on Friday — that they paid on bitcoin exchanges in South Korea over those elsewhere.

Experts said that South Korean prices were also higher because the exchanges there did not allow trading by foreigners. That prevents overseas investors from selling bitcoin in South Korea to profit from — and thereby help narrow — the price gap.

South Korea's isolation from the global market leads investors at home to seek better prices elsewhere. "We are seeing Koreans taking loads of cash to buy bitcoin in Indonesia and other countries in Southeast Asia where bitcoin is cheaper," said Hong Ki-hoon, professor of economics at Hongik University in Seoul.

WHAT DO INVESTORS THINK?

With so many conflicting signals from the government, "I don't think any of us think that these strong measures will actually be implemented," said Hyon Hae-in, a 35-year-old bitcoin investor.

"Longtime investors see times like these as opportunities to trade," she said. THE NEW YORK TIMES
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Japan’s ‘Virtual Currency Girls’ Idol Group Performs First Crypto Educational Concert

Japan’s new female idol group “Virtual Currency Girls” performed their first live concert on Friday in Tokyo. Their songs incorporate reminders, advice, and warnings related to cryptocurrency trading. The girls receive their salaries in bitcoin and the show’s tickets and merchandise are also sold for the cryptocurrency.

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Japanese 8-member idol group Virtual Currency Girls performed their first concert in Tokyo on Friday. The group was formed last week, as news.Bitcoin.com previously reported.

Japan’s ‘Virtual Currency Girls’ Idol Group Performs First Crypto Educational ConcertThe show, which lasted about half an hour, began with each member briefly introducing themselves as a cryptocurrency. They are bitcoin cash (BCH), bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), monacoin (MONA), neo (NEO), nem (XEM), and ripple (XRP). The group’s leader is reportedly Naruse Rara who represents bitcoin cash.

After a round of introductions, the group launched into their opening song called “The Moon, Cryptocurrencies and Me”. It incorporates warning messages of the risks of cryptocurrency trading as well as other basic security reminders such as “Be careful about your password! Don’t use the same one!,” Reuters described. Another line says “It’s hell if you buy at a high price!” and “Don’t underestimate the market,” according to the Financial Times.

The girls wear maid costumes which “aim to raise the group’s popularity with the use of a globally recognizable ‘uniform’,” Naruse explained.


The group explained that they are not about promoting investments, but rather to educate people about cryptocurrencies in an entertaining way. “We want to promote the idea through entertainment that virtual currencies are not just a tool for speculation but are a wonderful technology that will shape the future,” the Mirror quoted the girls.

Referring to cryptocurrencies, Naruse said at the concert, “Our brains are fried as we are studying every day,” Arab News reported and quoted her saying:

”All merchandise sold at the venue is paid for in bitcoin, as are concert tickets and the members’ salaries,” Reuters noted.

The group also held a “meet-and-greet” event, which is common for idol groups. “Fans could take a picture, shake hands and even chat with one of the performers for 0.001 bitcoin (about $15),” according to Sputnik. After the show, “several fans admitted that they [the group] had given them ‘a good introduction’ to the world of cryptocurrencies,” the news outlet added. In addition, Reuters quoted Kensaku Nagao, a 46-year-old fan of the group, saying:

Another fan, 43-year-old Hiroshi Kasahara, who runs an ad agency, said: “I have been trading stocks and forex but not bitcoin or other virtual currencies as I was a bit scared of them…But [now] I feel like opening an account” if the group accepts payment only in bitcoin, he was quoted by Arab News.

“I may well give it a try as it can be a catalyst to make life more convenient and fun,” said Makoto Sato, a 42-year-old office worker who said the idol group had given him “a good introduction” to the world of cryptocurrencies.

What do you think of Virtual Currency Girls? Let us know in the comments section below.

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top 2 alts to invest in jan/2018 is wanchain and pundix..both can do x10 wanchain mainnet launch this month if you miss ICO you should be ready to catch some cheap wan on exchange. PundiX Token sale will start in a week.don't miss free money.

i think ICOs is the best way for making money in long-term, if you're lazy like me  or you don't have time for googling ICOs...here is Ian Balina spreadsheet for ICOs rating: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qvCCS6lwEH9nOa8KwQGTVhtQ3VXPzed3rXUqksDQkT0/htmlview?usp=sharing&sle=true
that dude start from nothing to $4.5m in less than 6 months.

i think the remening coins will be used for future development and some is devs shares, nobody works for free 

hey dev, i wanna ask you about masternode rewards,
in OP u said that reward is 50% MN 50℅ POS but i only got 0.00333!! and POS 0.006xx!

so basically you're a scammer   u will scam the buyers!

from telegram:
hi we are in discussions with other exchanges but we can't provide any info at this time, we'll be listing on coss.io soon after the crowdsale

2017 saw itself out with the promise of a $20,000 Bitcoin, but then snatched it away, along with lots of new “investors” hoping for an early Christmas present.

It wasn’t to be – so – what does 2018 have in store for this crypto?



Firstly, we think that cryptocurrencies are now going to get serious. The newer investors who dipped their toe into the water, only to find themselves drowning, will be very unlikely to return. If Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, and others, can prove themselves during 2018, even newer investors may be enticed into the market to try their luck. But will that happen?

Banks and other “classic” financial institutions are now accepting fintech, cryptocurrencies, and ICOs, much more earnestly. Governments, too, are beginning to realise that Ethereum, for example, is a real, and powerful tool, capable of far more than simply acting as coinage. The concept of ledgers, smart contracts, and blockchain transactions is now on many more agendas.

Bitcoin has come a long way, even since October, when investors were getting excited because it had reached $5,000, at 1) on the daily timeframe chart above. It continued rising through, to 2)  where it experienced a setback, which, at the time, had everyone calling time on Bitcoin.

In retrospect, this was a blip – but it showed, once again – the power of the 21-day EMA (exponential moving average) and the 55-day, and 100-day levels as strong support, just as they proved back in mid-September, mid-July, the end of March, and the beginning of January. What this shows, beyond doubt, is that Bitcoin has never closed below the 100-day EMA. This gives us a benchmark to go by.

After the hype and wishful thinking of us all wanting Bitcoin to reach $20,000 by Christmas, at 3) it came as a shock, for some, to find Bitcoin falling to $14,115 on 22nd December. But, again, the 55-day EMA held, at 7) and saw it climb back.

It is currently bouncing around the 21-day EMA. We see two scenarios here, at 4). The first is Bitcoin rising, at 5) to pass the previous resistance level around $16,409. If it does this – and goes higher than $17,000 – it will signal that the buyers are back in control, and Bitcoin should climb even higher again.

If it does the opposite, at 6) and falls below the previous, lowest high, at around $12,872 – it will show that there is more selling than buying – and the price is likely to drop back to the 55-day, 7) or possibly the 100-day EMA, .

The remaining indicators on the daily chart are fairly inconclusive at the moment.

The 14-day ADX and DMI indicators, at 9) are flat – with a slight negative edge as the -DMI (red) is above the +DMI (green).

At 10)  although the last two indicator dots are red – the first in months not to be blue – the pulse wave is showing a slight upward trend, despite the fact that the color has gone from red to maroon, which would indicate a negative momentum.

Lastly, since showing the start of the recent downtrend, at 11) the divergence indicator has fallen, and we await a red dot signal, which would indicate a potential rise taking place. We would expect this to happen at 12) and probably, quite soon.

As a backdrop to all of this, there is a strong rumor that Amazon is about to accept Bitcoin as a method of payment. Patrick Byrne, the CEO of Overstock, has stated that Amazon will soon have no choice but to start accepting it. He is quoted as saying, “… they have to follow suit. I’ll be stunned if they don’t because they can’t just cede that part of the market to us if we are the only main large retail site taking Bitcoin.” Scott Mullins, an Amazon executive has confirmed that Amazon is, “working with financial institutions and crypto-experts to spur innovation, and facilitate frictionless experimentation.”

If the Amazon rumor turns out to be true – Bitcoin will probably go into orbit! Be prepared…

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When Bitcoin plunged close to 40% back in the middle of December, Ripple took off, quadrupling in value in a matter of days to take second position among cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization. Meanwhile, other cryptocurrencies rallied in sympathy. Like Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bytecoin—to mention but a few.

Then, as Ripple and other cryptocurrencies corrected in the last couple of days, Bitcoin rallied.

“I wouldn't read too much into it,” says cryptocurrency expert Kyle Samani. “The crypto market is 99% noise right now. In general, we see rotations between BTC and alts. First half of 2017 was alts, 2nd half was bitcoin, seems like we're back in an alt cycle.”

There’s a good explanation behind the rotation among Bitcoin, Ripple, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies. Some cryptocurrency exchanges require Bitcoins to pay for coin transactions. So, investors who already own Bitcoins have to sell them to execute those transactions.

[Ed note: Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment. Disclosure: I don't own any cryptocoins or tokens).

Rotation from one coin to another isn’t new to investing. It has for years been applied on Wall Street, where investors rotate funds between “defensive” and“cyclical stocks,” at times when interest rates, ie the “opportunity cost” of money, remain low.

That’s bullish for stocks, because it confirms that money is staying within this asset class rather than moving back into money market investments.

And that’s bullish for cryptocurrencies, provided that interest rates remain low, and the hype for this new asset class remains alive for some time to come.

Still, cryptocurrencies are radically different than traditional assets. There’s no cash flow to determine their intrinsic value (though various efforts have been made to calculate the value of Bitcoin by using the Quantity Theory of Money).  And that makes it difficult to determine whether a certain cryptocurrency is overvalued or undervalued, in the short-term, and viable in the long-term.

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i beleive that wanchain (chinese ripple) is the next x100 coin..ICO price was 0.34$ even if wanchain get 1/10 xrp market cap that will be 100$/wan this more than x100, almost ~x300.

airdrops are worthless even if the price go up you will get few hunderd bucks, the best way to make profit from them is bying in early stage when peeps are dumping for peanuts.

Do you believe John McAfee is right about Bitcoin hitting $500,000 in 3 years? originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.

Answer by Vladimir Novakovski, 8.5 years in hedge funds, on Quora:

It’s interesting that almost all existing analysis of cryptoassets are from the point of view of fundamentals (or lack thereof). It’s often useful to look at things quantitatively instead.


So here, what we really want to understand is the probability of bitcoin reaching $500,000. There are a few ways to do that.

First, we can assume a completely random process and take a “gambler’s ruin” perspective. What is the probability that a random process will hit $500,000 before it hits $0? Given that the price as of Dec 2017 is about $15,000, we’d get $15,000/$500,000 = 3%.

Another approach is to model price as a lognormal process, which is a reasonable assumption to make for a broad set of assets. See Why do prices and income follow a log-normal distribution?

We’d then need to estimate volatility and expected return of bitcoin. Expected return is harder to estimate — we can use the historical return, but that’s a pretty biased estimate. For example, if you pick a stock that performed the best out of the S&P 500 in the last 5 years, would you expect that stock to have the same expected return going forward? Mostly likely not. Same with bitcoin — unless you already made a prediction of its expected return before the really high realized return we see now, your Bayesian prior should be lower.

With that said, the general methodology of how to estimate distribution with a lognormal process for asset price is described here: John Young's answer to What is the bitcoin price prediction for 2019?

Based on this, depending on how liberal you are about estimating expected return, you’d be looking at a probability in the 1–10% range of reaching $500,000 in the next year.

Further methods would involve looking at option prices. Right now, there’s not a particularly liquid market for options yet, but with bitcoin futures opening today, that may change soon. With option prices, you’d actually be able to trade a call option with $500,000 strike, and the price of this option would roughly be proportional to the probability of reaching that level by a certain maturity date.

So — to summarize, we are probably looking at a range of 1–10% probability of reaching $500,000 in the next year, depending on how you model it. Beyond that, it’s harder to know, with changes happening to the market like introduction of futures, but eventually there may be a liquid market for making such predictions through options.

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United States of Bitcoin: Illinois Gives Crypto Love While Other States Hate

THe United States continues to divide over the issue of cryptocurrency generally and bitcoin in particular. Idaho and Alaska issued crypto investment warnings, while Iowa’s Insurance Division cautions against the digital asset’s “high risk,” and Utah announces “scam” scares. Illinois bucks the worrywarts, however, and is instead crafting legislation that would welcome crypto businesses and innovation.


In a trend-bucking move, legislators in the midwest state of Illinois are trying to craft legislation that would help the state welcome what some in their ranks see as an innovation. “New York went in and over regulated [bitcoin] and what ended up happening was a lot of those companies left the state,” representative Jaime Andrade reminded.

Mr. Andrade was responding to a bureaucratic report declaring bitcoin to not be a currency. It just so happens Mr. Andrade is the Chair of the state’s House Committee on Cyber Security. He’s even, with colleague Mike Zalewski, set up a crypto subcommittee to help better educate the public.

Illinois is also home to the city of Chicago, Frank Sinatra’s kind of town. Birthplace of Jazz. The state was the first to use electric street lighting, and it generates more nuclear power than any other in the US. The state knows cool and useful.

With myself and Zalewski working on this together,” he continued, “I think we will be able to make sure we protect the consumer, but at the same time, we work with the companies and all the other organizations to make sure the state of Illinois is an inviting environment for this type of technology.”

For his part, Mr. Zalewski says: “We are under tremendous pressure in this state to make government more efficient,” presumably referencing bitcoin’s blockchain database. “This technology has the opportunity to help remake government. That’s what we’re interested in.”

And Chicago, of course, is home to the first bitcoin futures contracts (Cboe and CME). Illinois is well familiar with cutting edge innovation. “The goal of this is not to regulate it in a way that’s going to make people uncomfortable to use it in the future,” Representative Zalewski urged.


Meanwhile, Alaska and Idaho each issued separate warnings about cryptocurrencies. In Idaho, regulators worry too few of its inhabitants fail to “go beyond the headlines and hype to understand the risks associated with investments in cryptocurrencies” before plunking down their hard earned cash.United States of Bitcoin: Illinois Gives Crypto Love While Other States Hate

Alaska’s regulator believes its citizens are just plain confused. “What exactly do I get for my investments?” the regulator asks. “Will it be tangible? Is it kept in some sort of a blockchain? And if it’s in a blockchain, what is a blockchain and how does that operate with your investments?” That, or there might’ve been a contest for how many times a bureaucrat could weave the word blockchain into a quote.

In Iowa, regulators caution: “Investing in cryptocurrencies is not for the faint of heart,” they insist. Cryptos have “an unproven track record and carry a high risk of fraud that should cause consumers to be cautious.”

Finally, Utah minders urge “Utah’s reputation as a technically savvy and connected state makes our population ripe for crypto-currency fraud,” and yet, while “it’s a compliment to our population for being plugged into what’s trending, internet hype can lead to rash decisions”.

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there is a lot of coins to hodl for long-term, i personaly prefere pasive income tokens such populous,spectre and paypie.
there also coins that wanna replace eth such Neo Cardano and EOS. this my long-term HODL coins.