Hi Jcga,
If Hdac wants me to stop they should pay us our bounty. It took over 8 months for Hdac to start distributing the bounties after the successful TGE. I never said a word about that and how comes I missed my payments? this is not about me, it is for everyone that got scammed by Hdac.  


HDAC is a SCAM!

Hi Jcga,
If Hdac wants me to stop they should pay us our bounty. It took over 8 months for Hdac to start distributing the bounties after the successful TGE. I never said a word about that and how comes I missed my payments? this is not about me, it is for everyone that got scammed by Hdac.  


HDAC is a SCAM!

U.K.-based exchange CoinFLEX plans on offering physically delivered bitcoin futures that can be leveraged up to 20 times, a move that will make them a major competitor to giants such as the New York Stock Exchange and Eris Exchange.


Physically Delivered Bitcoin Futures to Hit Asian Markets as Soon as February 2019
A venture owned by a consortium of famed crypto investors and industry giants is about to launch one of the most closely watched products in the world of cryptocurrencies, Bloomberg Quint reported.

According to the report, CoinFLEX, a former unit of Coinfloor, a U.K.-based bitcoin exchange, will provide derivatives on some of the largest cryptocurrencies on the market to Asian retail investors. The derivates will become available at the beginning of February 2019.

Founded in 2017 as CoinfloorEX, the company is a venture by Roger Ver, the CEO of Bitcoin.com, the founder of Bitcoin Cash, and Trading Technologies, a broker software manufacturer.

Mark Lamb, the co-founder of Coinfloor, which will retain an equity stake in CoinFLEX, will take charge as the company’s CEO and lead the company from its new HQ in Hong Kong.

The company will have unique leverage over the competition—all of the futures issued on CoinFLEX will be physically delivered, Lamb said in an interview. This means that once a contract expires, its owner will receive the underlying cryptocurrency instead of cash, Yahoo! Finance explained:

    “Crypto derivatives could become an order of magnitude larger than spot markets and the main thing that’s holding back that growth is the lack of physical delivery,” Lamb told Bloomberg.


Digital Assets Still Have Plenty of Room to Grow
Lamb identified trust as one of the main obstacles the crypto market faces. With many investors saying that settling bitcoin futures in cash is an easily manipulated process and introducing a trustless system could increase the volume of the futures market 20 times.

CoinFLEX plans on making a large bet on Tether as part of its futures offering at the beginning of February. The exchange’s contracts will trade against Tether, meaning that short bets made in bitcoin will receive Tether, and vice versa.

Another contract to trade Tether against USDC will be introduced, Lamb revealed, saying that the company was “confident in using it” due to its volume and liquidity.

Despite its parent company Coinfloor being vocal about introducing more regulation within the U.K., CoinFLEX has decided to go offshore:

    “Crypto is a global audience and being regulated by one country would restrict who we can deal with elsewhere,” Lamb said.

Just like its competitor BitMEX, CoinFLEX is registered in the Republic of Seychelles. The proliferation of Bitcoin-based financial products will make the cryptocurrency more accessible, stimulate interest in the coin, and ultimately, increase demand.


Reference: https://cryptoslate.com/exchange-offering-physical-bitcoin-futures-to-rival-bitmex/

World’s 23rd Richest Man Invests in Cryptocurrency Exchange Bakkt’s First Funding Round



Bakkt, a digital asset platform created by the Intercontinental Exchange, has completed its first funding round, securing an investment from Li Ka-shing, a renowned Hong Kong billionaire and one of the wealthiest men on the planet.


Li Ka-Shing Leads Investment Round For Bakkt
Bakkt, a cryptocurrency platform backed by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) had completed its Series A funding round on Dec. 31, 2018. Bakkt signed off more than $180 million raised, entering the new year with a bang.

The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) managed to attract heavyweight tech and venture capital investors, including Boston Consulting Group, Microsoft’s venture capital arm M12, and Naspers’ fintech company PayU, Bakkt’s Medium post revealed.

According to EJ Insight, one of the most notable investors in Bakkt was Horizons Ventures, a Hong Kong venture capital firm founded by Li Ka-shing. Ka-shing, who is the 23rd richest man in the world according to Forbes; he has been accumulating an assorted portfolio of tech startups over the last decade.

This, however, isn’t the first time Ka-shing has ventured into cryptocurrencies. In 2013, Horizons Ventures invested in BitPay, a bitcoin payment processing software, and in 2016 in Blockstream, a blockchain technology provider.


Investors Recognize Bakkt’s Potential
Bakkt’s plan to launch a digital asset platform that will host institutional-grade futures contracts for bitcoin and other cryptos seems to have resonated well with investors. Li Ka-Shing’s Horizons Ventures was joined by CMT Digital, Eagle Seven, Galaxy Digital, Goldfinch Partners, Alan Howard, Pantera Capital, and Protocol Ventures, Bakkt’s CEO, Kelly Loeffler said.

Backing by some of the biggest names among institutional investors could help the cryptocurrency market gain much-needed recognition. Institutional backing could also reduce the volatility that has plagued the crypto market for years.

Physically delivered crypto futures will set Bakkt apart from the competition, as rival exchanges CME and CBOE settle their contracts in fiat. Bakkt’s contracts will also be warehoused and cleared through ICE’s US-based futures exchange and clearinghouse.

Many small time crypto traders are looking forward to the launch of Bakkt’s contracts on Jan. 24, 2019, as the initial launch was set for Nov. 2018. The company blamed regulatory setbacks for the delay, with Loeffler saying Bakkt has filed an application with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and was waiting for approval.


Reference: https://cryptoslate.com/worlds-23rd-richest-man-invests-bakkt/

While the crypto market maintained stability in the $135 billion to $137 billion range, TRON and NEO recorded seven and ten percent gains respectively as the two best performing major digital assets on the day.

Bitcoin has shown decent volume at around $5 billion throughout the past two weeks but has struggled to show signs of a major breakout above key resistance levels.


Is the Market Up For a Boring Year in 2019?
In the last several weeks, a few crypto assets in the likes of Ethereum (ETH) and TRON (TRX) have surged in value due to scheduled product launches.

Constantinople, a hard fork on the Ethereum blockchain network, is set to be executed between January 14 and 18. In anticipation of the hard fork, the Ethereum price has nearly doubled since mid-December of last year.



TRON has also demonstrated a solid increase in its price on the day following the introduction of the BitTorrent token, a native cryptocurrency of the widely utilized torrent protocol launched on top of the TRON blockchain network.

The official whitepaper of the BitTorrent Token read:

    Optimizing the existing BitTorrent protocol is an obvious first step in the introduction of a cryptographic token but it barely scratches the surface of what is rapidly becoming possible.

Many analysts expect the crypto market to undergo another major correction prior to engaging in a several-month consolidation period and an accumulation phase.

Until then, the market is likely to remain stable in a low price range, unable to initiate large price movements.

Several cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and TRON could demonstrate upward price movements leading up to anticipated product launches and protocol updates but most crypto assets will likely show stability due to their low volume and the overall decline in trading activity in the market.

A cryptocurrency trader with an online alias “The Crypto Dog” said about the short-term price trend of Ethereum, the best performing major digital asset in the past month:

    I am bear biased until I have a reason to be otherwise, but happy to be proven wrong.


Not Everyone Expects a Boring Year
In a blog post, Travis Scher, a vice president at Digital Currency Group, a major venture capital firm that has invested in some of the largest cryptocurrency businesses such as Coinbase, said that he expects 2018 to be volatile and full of surprises.

“This is the most consistent industry trend I’ve seen over the years. Blockchain is super sticky — once you’ve gone full-time crypto, every other sector seems boring. Like every other year in blockchain, 2019 will be volatile, entertaining, and full of surprises,” Scher said, emphasizing that both individuals and companies involved in the space are unwilling to exit the space and wait out the crypto winter.

The latter half of 2019 could certainly show a revitalized cryptocurrency exchange market, especially if crypto assets recover during the first two quarter. But, based on the short-term price trend of many cryptocurrencies since November, the probability of drastic trend reversal remains low.


Reference: https://www.ccn.com/crypto-market-stable-at-137-billion-as-tron-surges-7-still-bear-biased/

Is it possible that the US Federal Reserve’s decision to tighten its balance sheet contributed to bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency market losing steam in 2018? If so, what should crypto investors expect from the independently-run central bank in the future?

Mati Greenspan, the senior market analyst at trading platform eToro, explored these and other questions in a wide-ranging webinar session on Tuesday.


Fed’s Balance Sheet Reduction May Have Shaken Bitcoin
Speaking on how even diverse asset classes can show correlation, Greenspan said that the Fed’s ongoing quantitative tightening program could have been one of a variety of reasons that the bitcoin price dropped so severely last year.

He explained that the Fed’s decision to reverse its crisis-era bond buying prompted a selling wave across all the mainstream and nascent markets, including US stocks, equities, and crypto assets. The decision took money out of the system as the Treasury started looking for new buyers for its debts, thus turning investors away from their buying habits.
Fed QE is Reversing Since the Beginning of 2018; ECB and BOJ Are Holding | Source: Fed, ECB, BOJ

In 2017, Greenspan stressed, the bitcoin price went up on central bank-led quantitative easing and tighter interest rates program. As the trimming of a $4 trillion Fed portfolio remains under an auto-pilot mode, it would make the Fed raise interest rates by another quarter-point. Other analysts expect the quantitative tightening program to run until the Fed balance sheet comes inside the range of $3.6-$3.7 trillion. When that would happen cannot be predicted.

Economists at Morgan Stanley believe that bond selling would continue until September. New York-based TD Securities put the deadline as far as October. Barclays plays its prediction more safely by placing the program closure in “mid-to-late 2019.” Deutsche Bank sees it extending until the end of 2019, while UBS distinctively expects the program to conclude in June 2020 at $3.5 trillion.

Sum-of-all-analysis hints that bitcoin could still be inside a bearish correction against the US dollar. It is also the same for other markets, including S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow Jones.


Continue reading: https://www.ccn.com/from-bitcoin-to-brexit-heres-what-investors-need-to-watch-for-in-2019/

The NicheHash crypto mining marketplace contains the majority of the hashpower on the Dash network. A concerned Reddit user raised the alarm today.


Single Miner Mining More Than 50% of All Dash Blocks


Source: CoinWarz

Dash has a total of almost 1,900 Terrhashes per second at time of writing. Meanwhile, NiceHash is responsible for more than 1,000 TH/s across over 25,000 miners.


Over $2.2 Million Earned by Single Miner

Analysis by the concerned Reddit user found that three of the top addresses over the last few thousand Dash blocks are controlled by the same entity. They write:

    This particular transaction has three of the four top addresses as inputs meaning one entity controls all three. These three alone gather 53% and more. You can also see this started 6 months ago/around September last year, and I think the fourth unknown pool also belongs to this entity yet it is separated on the blockchain. It started to gather a lot of hash at the same time.

The addresses in question are:

    XbUutDsgJbf7Sjjq4omhusNtkT8ih1d7oQ
    XkNPrBSJtrHZUvUqb3JF4g5rMB3uzaJfEL
    XeMPcKeVDN9bkECGDC7ggtf9QsX5thgKAx

Combined, these addresses have mined 26,665 Dash to date, at time of writing. That is a total of 573 BTC or $2.2 million at current prices. Yet, the financial aspect is the least of anyone’s worries.

51% attacks create significant security liabilities in decentralized blockchain networks. Charlie Lee recently said that networks must be vulnerable to 51% attacks for decentralization. Miner centralization threatens networks as well, however.


51% Attack Possible Before Chainlocks


NiceHash accounts for the majority of the Dash cryptocurrency’s hashrate.


The Reddit user Flenst concludes his post:

    So it is possible someone could try to perform a 51% before DASH implements their chainlocks. The actor could start right away. Anyone offering a service with DASH must keep an eye on the chain as long as this doesn’t change and be very careful.

He is referring to a recent announcement by the Dash development team that they are working on something called “Chainlocks.” In November, Dash said they are introducing the new feature in order to combat 51% attacks. Such attacks are in the news again with recent issues surrounding Ethereum Classic. Chainlocks also deals with block reorganizations and modifies the “longest-chain” rules that Dash inherits from Bitcoin. From Dash Improvement Proposal 8:

    When a node encounters multiple valid chains, it sets the local “active” chain by selecting the one that has the most accumulated work. This is generally known as the “longest-chain” rule as in most cases it is equivalent to choosing the chain with the most blocks.

    If both chains have the same amount of accumulated work (and in most cases the same block count), a decision can’t be made solely based on the longest-chain rule. […] If another block is then received which extends the non-active chain so that it has the most accumulated work, it becomes the active one. For example, even if a chain is currently 6 blocks longer than any other chain, it’s still possible that a shorter chain becomes longer and thus the active one. This is generally known as a chain reorganization.

What’s clear is that someone has invested a massive amount of money into mining Dash with ASICs. Dash’s X11 algorithm once thwarted ASIC development. ASIC developers found that by adding memory to the miners, they were able to handle the X11 algorithm. When this happened with Monero, developers decided to fork away to a modified algorithm.


Reference: https://www.ccn.com/dash-cryptocurrency-single-wallet-owner-possesses-51-of-hashrate/

Tobacco shops in France are the new counters to purchase Bitcoin thanks to Keplerk.

In a follow up to its November 2018 announcement, the Parisian FinTech startup has forged a partnership with six ‘tabac’ centers across the French capital. The cooperation would see the tobacco sellers selling bitcoin vouchers – similar to gift cards – that are redeemable for the digital currency via Kepelerk’s crypto wallet.

Adil Zakhar, one of the co-founders of Keplerk, said the total number of bitcoin-selling tobacco outlets would reach 100 by the end of this week. He also confirmed that they were eyeing the enrollment of 6,500 licensed shops by the beginning of February in hopes to offer more doors through which new users can enter the cryptoverse.

“Some people find it complicated to get bitcoins online,” Zakhar told Reuters. “They trust their local tobacco shop owner more than they would trust some remote anonymous website.”


Regulatory Roadblocks
The service could come before roadblocks as French regulators remain puzzled over the legal status of Keplerk. PAYSAFEBIT SASU, the public limited company that backs the startup, has reportedly received an operational approval from the Autorité Des Marchés Financiers (AMF), France’s version of the SEC. But some elements inside the regulator office are doubtful about the company’s liquidity status.

“Its distribution by a public limited company, PAYSAFEBIT SASU with a capital of 50,000 Euros, using the trade name KEPLERK, which does not have any authorization or approval by a French or foreign authority, is not likely to provide any guarantee to the customer base,” excerpts from the French regulator’s statement read.

The standing confusion points to the cryptocurrency’s unregulated status in France. The government earlier released two ordinances on blockchain technology, which remains the only legislative actions taken by the ministry of finance so far. In matters related to bitcoin and crypto trading, AMF has continuously warned investors of the potential risks of investing in cryptocurrencies, stating that they don’t consider them financial instruments.


Pan-EU Crypto Law
France, which is a part of the European Union, will likely place itself under its authority when it will come to define cryptos. With the European Banking Authority recently reaching to the European Commission with a proposal to create a pan-EU bitcoin law, the outcome of these developments expects to shed more light on how crypto startups like Keplerk would be categorized in the future.

Before these proposals make their forward through a sluggish bureaucracy, the Bitcoin market will expect to outgrow itself by adoption and volume, especially by small investors who are finding themselves shunned by potential public investment opportunities.


Reference: https://www.ccn.com/regulators-begone-bitcoin-goes-on-sale-in-french-tobacco-shops/

Technical analysts believe the Bitcoin price is at a turning point. Using the GTI VERA Bands Indicator, a new Bloomberg article suggests that the flagship cryptocurrency could be “on the brink of a large move.” It could go either way, the indicator suggests. Bitcoin price moves over the past 18 months prove surprises could be on the cards. Crypto volatility has been decidedly lower in recent times.



It’s Bitcoin. Come for the laughs, stay for the volatility.


Ikigai founder Travis Kling isn’t sure what will happen. Ikagai is a “multistrategy Cryptoasset hedge fund.” It is named after the Japanese “reason for being.” He cautiously suggests that the bottom probably isn’t in for Bitcoin. He told Bloomberg:

    I am certainly willing to change my mind, but the preponderance of evidence leads us to believe that we’ll see more lows before we head higher.

As CCN’s in-house analyst Yashu Gola wrote:

    The interim sentiment is leading bitcoin to two possible scenarios. In the first scenario, bitcoin would initially hold its gains and extend its rally to post fresher higher highs. Another one is a complete reverse, in which bitcoin would erase all its gains owing to its long-term bearish bias.

Bitcoin moves in mysterious ways. The bear market of 2014-2015 saw occasional highs followed by stark lows. Bitcoin volatility was occasionally in the 50% range. The bottom was under $100. If Bitcoin makes similar moves in the current market, the real bottom could be under $400.


Who Will Sell Before The Next Bitcoin Bull Run?
This requires, of course, a great deal of selling. Which we have seen before. However, the market is larger now than it was then. For one thing, more coins exist. For another, more investors exist. As such, drastic drops in the $,1000 range take longer to achieve. They are certainly possible. It’s difficult to surprise crypto veterans.

At its heart, Bitcoin is a speculative instrument. It can function as a store of value but it will never be a stable one. Those who embrace this reality tend to weather the markets better, selling at appropriate times and pinpointing buy opportunities.

Demand for Bitcoin remains high. Crypto volatility isn’t where it once was. There are even rumors that the Russian government might make a multi-billion dollar purchase in a sovereignty move. US sanctions could thus complicate the Bitcoin trading markets.

Drastic pronouncements on Bitcoin price are common and always have been. Roger Ver’s $100,000 prediction of years past has still not come to fruition. More recently, Tom Lee stood by his over-bullish prediction.



The BTC/USD rate continues to straddle the $4,000 mark on Bitstamp and other cryptocurrency exchanges.


It’s crypto. Come for the laughs, stay for the volatility. There is a percentage of people who bought over $10,000 who have yet to sell. These people are unlikely to sell before a bull run takes it back in that direction. There is a percentage who were burned in the same moves and will never buy in again.

What is certain: 2019 is an important year for Bitcoin. It could be the year that the oldest cryptocurrency pushes closer to $1 trillion in market cap than ever before, or it could be the year that alternatives become more valuable. “Network effects” are only metrics. They are not laws of physics. Technically speaking, Bitcoin may find itself inferior to alternative networks as they are more agile at integrating changes.

But these are all unlikely scenarios. Those who wish for some form of “price stability” will forever be wishing for it, and the author is inclined to agree with Travis Kling: it’s probably going to get worse before it gets better.


Reference: https://www.ccn.com/bitcoin-crypto-hedge-fund-says-well-see-more-lows-before-we-head-higher/

The break above $4,000 has not really changed the interim bias of the bitcoin market.

The cryptocurrency on Wednesday remained largely unchanged on its 24-hour adjusted timeframe. The news of a possibly peaceful end to the ongoing US-China trade talks allowed global markets to establish their fresh intraday highs. Investors, meanwhile, focused less on their bitcoin portfolios after finding more opportunities in the Dow Jones, Nasdaq and S&P 500 markets.

The silence in the bitcoin market also alarmed bulls of their fading dominance after an impressive rally this week. The BTC/USD rate managed to stay above $4,000, its psychological support, across the Asian and European session. The pair now awaits a breakout action, but its arrival cannot be predicted.

Bears have more dominance in the bitcoin market as bulls go back into sleep mode. It is clear that buyers are waiting to enter any extended long positions on a higher high above $4,000. That leaves the market pretty much for the downward trend.


Bitcoin Price Daily Chart

BITCOIN 1D CHART | SOURCE: COINBASE, TRADINGVIEW.COM

There are three essential factors to consider concerning the current price action: history, resistance, and Doji. The last two daily sessions have witnessed bitcoin opening and closing the day on or around the same level. It is called Doji formation, which indicates the bias conflict in the market.

Based on this technical indicator, one can see that traders are clueless at this point, which leaves the path of least resistance to the downside. The same had happened between the Oct. 15 and 29 trading sessions.

The 50-period moving average on the 1D chart is capping uptrend from flourishing into a breakout. It has resisted an uptrend action also during the October trading session as mentioned above.

The bitcoin price is in the last leg of its bearish pennant formation, expecting an initial pullback to the support and then towards $3,118 to form a double bottom scenario.

The Relative Strength Index momentum indicator is also finding it difficult to break above 58 since July 2018. The more the price consolidate below the said level, the higher the bearish bias would be.


Bitcoin Intraday Targets

BITCOIN 15M CHART | SOURCE: COINBASE, TRADINGVIEW.COM

The slow price movement has had us squeeze our range. It is now defined by $3,969 as interim support and $4,035 as interim resistance. As long as the bitcoin price consolidates inside the range, we can stick to our intrarange strategy, whereby we enter a long position towards the resistance level on every bounce from the support and a short position towards the support level on every pullback action from the resistance. We also maintain a stop loss 5 dollars above or below our entry point – against the direction of our trade.

In the event of a breakout action to the upside, we will open a long order towards $4,068. A further break and we will extend the upside target towards $4,115. A stop-loss 1-pip below the entry position would maintain our risk management protocol.

Conversely, a break below $3,969 will have us open a short order towards $3,943 while maintaining a stop loss just 1-pip above the support. That will minimize our loss in case a pullback action resumes.


Reference: https://www.ccn.com/bitcoin-price-analysis-why-the-defense-at-4000-will-not-hold/

The Tron price (TRX) on Wednesday maintained its bullish momentum despite a watchful sentiment across other cryptocurrencies.

The TRX/USD rate today peaked towards 0.0306, up 53% for the week after posting five consecutive daily buying sessions. On a 24-hour adjusted timeframe, the pair has posted a whopping 13.56% gain against the US dollar. The strong buying sentiment has prompted Tron’s market capitalization to jump two ranks, leaving Craig Wright’s Bitcoin SV and stablecoin Tether behind.

Tron is also showing strong muscles against Bitcoin. According to an aggregate price index, the TRX/BTC pair has jumped 13.15% to 722 satoshis.


BitTorrent Token Launch
The upside sentiment appears to have surged after the launch of the BitTorrent crypto token (BTT). It is the native cryptocurrency of the BitTorrent protocol, the popular torrent file sharing platform which Tron took over last year. According to the press announcement, BitTorrent users will be able to earn rewards for seeding and sharing the files in BTT. According to the BitTorrent whitepaper, BTT is based on Tron’s TRC-10 standard.

CZ, the CEO of crypto exchange Binance, called the development an “interesting case study.”

    The grandfather of Dapp finally finds its decentralized currency and business model. Should be a very interesting case study.

    — CZ Binance (@cz_binance) January 5, 2019

The overall development appears to have attracted sentimentalists towards the Tron market, especially when rest of the top coins are finding it difficult to reach their next upside targets. The crypto token’s surge against Bitcoin alone explains that.


Will the Tron Rally Last?
The signs of sentimental trading suggest that traders will want to exit their long positions on a profitable note on the first sign of pullback action.


TRON 1D CHART | SOURCE: BINANCE, TRADINGVIEW.COM

The TRX/USD rate has overreached its upside targets according to the Relative Strength Indicator (RSI) momentum. It is now near 80, which indicates a downside correction in the coming sessions. In the best case scenario, the TRX/USD pair will be forming a bull flag as it corrects to the south, after which it will resume its uptrend to form new higher highs. In the other scenario, which is not entirely a worst case, the pair will extend its downside correction to restest 0.0182 as its support.

As of now, Tron has already formed what the market calls a cup and handle pattern, followed by a breakout. Generally, the cups with stronger Us and handle size below the size of half the cup provide strong signals. We are merely discussing the pattern to realize the interim bias of the Tron market.

In the event of an extended breakout action, such that TRX/USD breaks above 0.0310, the next upside target would shift towards 0.0443, the high from July 18 trading session.


Reference: https://www.ccn.com/tron-price-rises-53-in-five-days-is-this-trx-run-sustainable/

Bitcoin and other top cryptocurrencies have just started recovering from their 16-month low. But a reputable member of the European Central Bank’s governing council believes that there is more room for collapse.

Ardo Hansson, the governor of Bank of Estonia, has claimed that cryptocurrencies would die as a complete load of nonsense while speaking at “5 Years with the Euro” conference in Latvia. The policymaker assured that the bubble has already started to collapse and it should continue to do unless the market reaches “a new kind of equilibrium.”

In 2017, interest in the digital currency space snowballed into a violent purchasing spree as its market capitalization soared above $813 billion. It then plunged last year to as low as $100.96 billion, leading to a wipe-off of almost 86 percent of the digital assets. Those who got in and out timely made huge bucks. And those who didn’t exit suffered.


Global Crypto Market Cap | Source: CoinMarketCap.com

“I think we will come back a few years from now and say how could we ever have gotten into this situation where we believed this kind of a fairy-tale story,” said Hansson.


No Risks to Financial Stability
In one of his earlier statements at the beginning of 2018, when Bitcoin was soaring near $19,000, Hansson had compared the crypto euphoria with a real bubble that may be worse than the Tulip mania of the 17th century. The US-born economist in the same breath had cleared that cryptocurrency bubbles would not pose risks to financial stability.

    “The volumes are too low. If they rise sharply and loans are raised in a big way to massively buy such assets, then it could be a danger. Currently, however, it is a problem for investors and consumers. Some people will probably make a lot of money. But many people will probably lose a lot of money too,” Hansson had said.

Hansson repeated his concerns over the growing relationship between the regulated financial sector and virtual currencies. He warned authorities of the potential risks posed by the new asset class if “grandmothers start investing” in them.


Hansson Didn’t Mention Bitcoin
Hansson didn’t mention Bitcoin while asserting his views about the crypto bubble which was very unlikely of a chief economist. A section of mainstream and crypto media has already picked Hansson’s statements as anti-Bitcoin which appears unconfirmed.

    ECB'S HANSSON: CRYPTO ASSETS ARE `NONSENSE,' BITCOIN TO DIE

    — zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 7, 2019

CCN is attempting to reach Hansson’s office for more clarity over his stance on Bitcoin. We will update this article as soon as we receive a response.


Reference: https://www.ccn.com/cryptocurrencies-a-load-of-nonsense-claims-ecb-council-member/

John Bigatton, the only representative for BitConnect Australia, has had his assets frozen by the  Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), functions very similarly to the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States. Bigatton can’t travel, as part of the ongoing investigation.

From Financial Advisor to Alleged Crypto Scammer
Bigatton is also a director and shareholder in BitConnect International. BitConnect as a whole is under investigation by several international bodies, including the FBI in the US. People like Trevon James, a notorious Bitconnect pumper who remains active on social media promoting and discussing cryptocurrencies, are the target of investigations in the US.

Bigatton must divulge all of his assets to Australian federal authorities. This includes his cryptocurrencies and any exchange accounts. As the Sydney Morning Herald wrote:

    ASIC launched action to freeze Mr Bigatton’s assets in December. On ASIC’s request, Federal Court justice Michael Gleeson issued orders for Mr Bigatton to disclose all bank accounts, “a list of the locations of all cryptocurrencies” held by him and any escrow accounts holding any crytocurrencies.

Bigatton has been a registered financial advisor and had multiple affiliations within that industry. The disgrace of the BitConnect collapse puts a damper on his career. According to a class action lawsuit filed in Florida, BitConnect promoters promised investors up to 40% returns.

Bigatton is still listed on the “About Us” page of a company called Wealth Synergy.


Bigatton’s Wife Still Missing
A company called “JB’s Investment Management” is also part of the ASIC movement. Clearly, the JB stands for “John Bigatton.” However, this company has one shareholder and director – Bigatton’s wife, Madeline.  As part of their actions against him, ASIC also froze all assets related to JBIM. This is where the story gets interesting.

Last March, Madeline Bigatton went missing. Police are currently treating it as a missing person and potential homicide case. Details may emerge in the future which tell a different tale. Possibilities include her potentially absconding with cash assets and installing herself abroad as part of a strategy. Either way, she’s essentially a ghost as far as authorities are concerned.

John Bigatton’s not a current suspect in the case.

Before her disappearance, Madeline Bigatton went on record as defending her husband. She said:

    It really cuts me up as John doesn’t have a single bad bone in his body and would only be involved in something if he truly believed it would be a positive impact on people’s lives.

In the days after her disappearance, John Bigatton did not seem disturbed. He posted this family selfie on Facebook:

Investigations and lawsuits surrounding BitConnect continue. Such things take years, not months. The best outcome would be that Mrs. Bigatton is found alive and well, BitConnect investors are re-compensated, and those who require justice receive it.


Reference: https://www.ccn.com/australia-regulators-freezes-assets-of-bitconnect-promoter-john-bigatton/

On January 8, 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto wrote to the Metzdowd cryptography mailing list about the initial release of Bitcoin. It was not his first e-mail on the subject. However, it was the first when he had a working product to show for his idea. With no salutations, the e-mail starts out:

    Announcing the first release of Bitcoin, a new electronic cash system that uses a peer-to-peer network to prevent double-spending.

These features are important to cryptographers, particularly the double-spend problem. Cryptographers still work on the problem today, with Satoshi’s Bitcoin as a key studying point. Satoshi’s solution involves decentralization and consensus rules.


Reference: https://www.ccn.com/bitcoin-10-years-ago-satoshi-nakamoto-announced-first-version/

Big Bankers Say Cryptocurrencies Do Not Pose a Threat to Global Financial Stability

The Financial Stability Board, a global inter-governmental body with over 20 member countries, has ruled that virtual currencies are not a threat to the world economy. The assessment could have an impact on India, whose central bank is part of the board.


FSB Says Cryptocurrencies Won’t Affect Global Financial Stability
While the crypto winter shows signs of dissipating, 2019 may bring good news for the cryptocurrency ecosystem in India. Highly unfavorable regulations imposed by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank, have forced many companies in the industry to leave or close down.

However, last week’s report from RBI gives new hope to the country’s crypto space, as all signs point to easing its stance on digital assets.

According to Quartz, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) has said that virtual currencies are not a threat to the world economy. The board, established in 2009 in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, includes finance ministers and central bankers from all of the G20 nations.

The board’s assessment came to light after RBI quoted the agency in a report released last week, Quartz reported. The FSB’s initial assessment indicated that crypto-assets currently do not pose a risk to global financial stability.


India’s Central Bank Could Be Easing Its Stance on Cryptocurrencies
Even though these assessments are not legally binding for any of the FSB’s member countries, they are usually adhered to in order to maintain global standards, said Quartz. With that in mind, the report was well received by the crypto community in India, who see it as a ray of hope for the following year.

India’s central bank has effectively banned cryptocurrencies, forbidding all banks operating in the country from providing services with companies in the industry.

Businesses and traders have been vocal about the need for more regulation in the industry, saying that the lack of transparency when it comes to the legality of the assets opens doors for government abuse.

On December 28, 2018, Pon Radhakrishnan, the minister of state for finance, told the lower house of the parliament that the country still hadn’t set a deadline for any norms regarding the industry.

However, Nischal Shetty, CEO of WazirX, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange, told Quartz that a lack of regulation isn’t always bad news.

    “It probably means that the government of India does not see cryptocurrencies as a matter of immediate concern, or something that needs to be regulated right away. This at least means that fears of a ban are not imminent,” he explained.

Cryptocurrency enthusiasts may want digital currencies to one day replace fiat. Yet, it seems that the G20 is not too concerned. Perhaps this will give crypto more time to flourish under the existing economic framework.


Reference: https://cryptoslate.com/big-bankers-cryptocurrency-not-threat-global-financial-stability/

In the past 24 hours, the crypto market added $3 billion to its valuation as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) performed relatively well against the U.S. dollar.

Several crypto assets in the likes of Litecoin, TRON, and Cardano recorded the largest gains on the day in the range of 6 to 12 percent.


Bitcoin Has Needs to Break Above $4,500
As the cryptocurrency market avoided a further drop below the $130 billion mark, Bitcoin defended the $3,800 level and stabilized at around $3,850.





According to a technical analyst with an online alias “DonAlt,” for the Bitcoin price to establish a foundation for a strong short-term rally, it will have to break out of major resistance levels above $4,500.

The analyst said:

    Monthly: Still bearish, needs to break above $4,500 to even attempt a bullish recovery. Weekly: Rejected by weekly resistance but finally showing some bull momentum. I’d like to see us start closing above $4,300 before turning bullish.

Currently, despite the relatively stable past few weeks demonstrated by the majority of crypto assets, the market still remains down by around 43 percent from November levels.

To initiate a strong short-term rally, the cryptocurrency market would have to add more than $80 billion to its valuation, which is certainly possible if the Bitcoin price is able to sustain its momentum throughout the first two quarters of 2019.

Analysts generally expect cryptocurrencies to undergo the final phase of the year-long bear market prior to the end of the first quarter of this year as the asset class eyes a gradual recovery in the second quarter.


Crypto Still in Early Phase
Chris Burniske, a partner at Placeholder VC, said that the cryptocurrency sector is in the installation phase wherein builders are dominating the asset class and the mainstream is not heavily involved.

Until the asset class becomes more resilient and robust, it will continue to see a high level of volatility and wild price cycles.

He said:

    But the mainstream? For most, crypto is still not relevant to their life. If they didn’t invest in 2017, they’ve forgotten. If they did, chances are they have a bad taste in their mouth and want to forget. I don’t say this to dishearten us. Quite the opposite. We remain in the installation phase of crypto where the primary users are developers & investors. There is so much left to build and promise to be realized, which is massively exciting.

With the emergence of custodial solutions and strictly regulated liquidity providers, the cryptocurrency market may see an inflow of institutional and high profile investors in 2019.

However, given the historical tendency of the asset class to initiate rallies based on cycles, some analysts expect cryptocurrencies to undergo a long-lasting consolidation period and demonstrate a high level of stability throughout 2019, as the bear market comes to an end.


Reference: https://www.ccn.com/crypto-market-records-decent-gains-but-bitcoin-has-to-rise-above-4500/

I see the burst as another opportunity for people to buy cheap bitcoins because many of us failed to fill our pockets before 2017 market boom.
This is an opportunity for us to buy cheaper bitcoins, HODL, and sell later when the price is high - at the next bull run, lol. who agrees with me?     

The Bitcoin price dropped almost 80% over the year, dragging the crypto market with it. Short-term bulls believe the market could be ripe for a bullish run. They cite the steady increase in Bitcoin’s trade volumes and transaction rate.

Researcher and cryptocurrency analyst Willy Woo believes this might not be the case. In a set of tweets, Woo argues that the on-chain volumes are just too little for a sustained run. He cites volatility as a reason for the increased on-chain volume seen in recent weeks.

    “The initial volume spike false signaled a faster detox and an earlier end to the bear market, but in fact, it was a volatility side effect. That move from $6k to $3k created immense trade volume, but it was in no way a signal that accumulation volume had begun.”

    The initial volume spike false signaled a faster detox and an earlier end to the bear market, but in fact, it was a volatility side effect. That move from $6k to $3k created immense trade volume, but it was in no way a signal that accumulation volume had begun.

    — Willy Woo (@woonomic) January 5, 2019

Network Value to Transactions Ratio

Volumes have reduced to normal amounts. The Network Value to Transactions (NVT) chart being on the high side means the value being transmitted on the network is lower than the valuation of the network.

The NVT ratio is an insightful metric created by Woo. It estimates the intrinsic values of digital assets, allowing investors to know when the Bitcoin price is too high or too low.

    That volume has since subsided. Leaving the NVT chart on the high side of its oscillation around the main move downwards. The key thing here, in my interpretation, is it's on the high side of its band, so I think an up move is limited, bears will win the longer term trade. pic.twitter.com/j5ZYZVJFU8

    — Willy Woo (@woonomic) January 5, 2019

Woo had predicted a bearish outlook for bitcoin in November 2018. He argued that the downward pressure on the world’s most popular cryptocurrency could persist till the second half of 2019. He cited data from NVTS, which he said had broken below its support levels. Woo concluded it was unlikely for Bitcoin to break above its 200-Day Moving Average (DMA).

At the time, he had said:

    If price (in the short term) bounces upwards here, which is certainly possible, I think the 200 day moving average is the upper band of the move. This is ~$7k right now. Remember if the price goes above the 200 DMA, in the history of BTCUSD’s 8-year trade history, it’s been a reliable indicator of a bear to bull transitions. It’s too early to transition out of the bear.

At press time, Bitcoin trades at $3,845 on Coinbase, up from an intraday high of $3,972. The overall market capitalization stands at $132 billion. It has a lot of support around these levels. As Joseph Young recently wrote:

    Currently, despite the relatively stable past few weeks demonstrated by the majority of crypto assets, the market still remains down by around 43 percent from November levels.

The extreme volatility in the Bitcoin price is both what attracts and repels investors. Willy Woo is often right. However, the market has a way of surprising people. Meanwhile, Chinese analysts predict an extended bear market into 2019.


Reference: https://www.ccn.com/bitcoin-price-analyst-willy-woo-says-bears-still-have-the-upper-hand/

Even the most ardent crypto evangelist must admit that bitcoin appears to have been the worst investment of 2018, at least in pure dollar terms. The cryptocurrency has lost almost 80 percent of its market capitalization since it established an all-time high at around $327.15 billion. The adoption rate and volume have dropped likewise. Organizations that were planning to launch their bitcoin-based services have delayed their projects or scrapped them entirely. As any seasoned trader would say, the bitcoin bubble is bursting — or has burst already.


The Anatomy of a Bitcoin Bubble

In pure dollar terms, the bitcoin price is on the downside of its largest-ever price bubble.


The surprising upturns and downturns of a financial market can confuse onlookers. It eventually is a game of passing sentiments – from one investor to another. If one sells, other buys. But in the event of a crash, when one sells, nobody wants to buy. It starts with a few investors dumping assets at high, then spirals outward. Other investors flock the selling action purely because of panic and price starts plummeting faster. It attracts more selling pressure, leading to fission.

What 2018 brought to the bitcoin market was a lot or sellers against limited buyers. In 2017, it was the opposite – more buyers against fewer sellers. The diverse performance of both the financial years, in successive order, shows that investors were purchasing bitcoin on either the speculation of a bull run or to acquire other digital assets that also promised higher returns in less time.

ICOs, as they are called, were a phenomenon back in 2017. Ethereum-enabled blockchain projects, claiming to be the next Apple or Microsoft, raised funds after selling their unregistered, unregulated digital assets for top cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. The buy orders, therefore, started piling up, leading the bitcoin’s value to its all-time high at $20,000.

The year 2018 was the time of delivery, but no ICO turned up for the show. According to a research paper published by the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, almost half of the blockchain projects were found to be failing within four months of their introduction.

“What we find is that once you go beyond three months, at most six months, they don’t outperform other cryptocurrencies,” researcher Leonard Kostovetsky had told Bloomberg. “The strongest return is actually in the first month.”

The biggest takeaway is that that these blockchain projects had an ample amount of bitcoin tokens with them. So, they could have likely dumped their bitcoin reserves for fiat to either run away or to pay for their operational costs. Hence, the bubble burst.

Digital Currency Group founder Barry Silbert supported the theory during an interview to CNBC. Galaxy Digital Holdings’ chief Mike Novogratz also told Bloomberg that ICO market is pretty much dead after “a lot of hype,” and that bitcoin will emerge out of its depression down the road.


Bitcoin: the Long Road to Recovery

On the logarithmic charts, bitcoin’s decline looks less concerning.


The bursting of a bubble does not necessarily mean the death of the underlying asset. The financial industry is full of such examples where traditional metrics defined the overvaluation of markets followed by a long-term bearish correction.

The dot-com bubble, for instance, comes close to resembling the crypto bubble. In the late 1990s, the introduction of the internet prompted a massive wave of speculation in dot-com companies. The Nasdaq Composite Index, which listed most of these tech startups, jumped from under 500 at the beginning of the 90s to establish highs over 5,000 in March 2000. The index plunged by 80 percent after that but recovered back by 2015 to set new highs.

The crypto market has crashed similarly after most of its startups failed after raising millions of dollars in over-hyped investments. Bitcoin, as many believe, is the survivor of a market-wide wipe off.

Lou Kerner, a crypto venture capitalist, called bitcoin the Amazon of crypto, stating that the digital currency would survive the crypto bubble burst similarly to how Amazon did after the dot-com crash.

“If you go back to the internet bubble, which is what a lot of us in crypto look at for direction, Amazon, arguably one of the greatest companies in the history of the mankind, was down over 95 percent over two years,” he told CNBC in November.

    Crypto has been so weak because most of it there’s no underlying value outside of confidence. [But] bitcoin, itself, we think is going to replace gold eventually. Gold is an $8 trillion thing.

The market is already preparing a welcome for bitcoin as it transits from retail to more serious institutions in 2019. Bakkt, a bitcoin futures platform backed by Intercontinental Exchange, will be launched at the end of January. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would also provide its final take on the VanEck’s bitcoin ETF which, if approved, could open the gates of multi-billion dollars worth of investments into the bitcoin space.


Bitcoin Dominance Rising

Bitcoin’s market share climbed, even as its price declined.


Bitcoin dominance refers to the market share of bitcoin against the rest of the crypto market. Ever since the crash started taking place, investors constantly flocked back towards bitcoin. Since November, bitcoin has been occupying around 50 percent of the entire crypto market, reflecting investors’ improved sentiment.

Cypherpunk Jameson Lopp, in his latest report, also found that Bitcoin is growing on almost the metrics other than economics. In 2018, the crypto market led by the digital currency raised $3.12 billion in investment, four times more than in 2017; the academic and user interest in it grew twofold; the coin’s development repository saw more commits than any other crypto project; and its Lightning Network solution gained momentum all across the community.

“Yes, bitcoin fared poorly [concerning the] exchange rate in 2018,” said Lopp. “But by almost any other metric the system is improving and growing. Those of us who are dedicated to this system shall continue to BUILD and add value; we have no control over the market, but I expect that it will catch up to us sooner or later.”

With strong fundamentals behind it, bitcoin would most likely correct, but it would be more mature than the earlier corrections. Rich investors, who are already hit by a US stock market crash, would be more inclined to move their value towards safe havens like the dollar, the yen, and gold. Bitcoin, being a relatively new phenomenon, could catch their eyes once its infrastructure will be ready to handle more volume and liquidity.


Reference: https://www.ccn.com/op-ed-why-the-bitcoin-bubble-burst-is-good-for-crypto/