TronWeekly

Crypto World News

You are here: Home / Search for "bitcoin mining"

Search Results for: bitcoin mining

A glance at the cryptocurrency market: November 2017 and now

by

The cryptocurrency market as a whole is worth somewhere around $275 billion. So today, in June 2019, it’s more or less on the same level as November 2017, as it was ending. So the market has been going from one point to basically the same location, but the road has been very long and hard. The greatest boom happened exactly as November 2017 ended and, then, during 2018, we saw the market lose about 85% of its total value in a protracted bearish run that affected every blockchain project in the planet.

Dot com and crypto

The vast volatility we see in the cryptocurrency market is typical of emerging industries and economic activities. The internet economy behaved similarly. The stocks rose by 50 times between 1997 and 2000 only to crash down at the tune of 95%, reaching their historic low in September 2002.

As the year’s end saw the industry recover some of its value, too many investors were left too afraid of facing further losses and didn’t want to join back in the action. In the end, thigs stabilized, many companies disappeared, but those who picked the right assets – Amazon, for instance, or Google – were able to negotiate all the previous red numbers and even make a handsome profit.

So while there are definite similarities, there are also some critical differences between the dot com boom and the cryptocurrency market. In the dot com fiasco, failing companies went bankrupt, liquidated, and disappeared. The cryptosphere is not like that. There is not such a clear line that tells you (and the market) when a project has failed already.

So, in the crypto verse pets dot com is still around. Maybe nobody is maintaining the blockchain’s network or code. Perhaps it only keeps a handful of active users (there are romantic optimists everywhere). And that small number of idealistic users can keep “alive” in the market a cryptocurrency that’s dead by any other meaningful standard. But we still have no mechanism that can let us know what those projects are. Even worse is the fact that all projects start like that too. Bitcoin too was like that in the beginning.

So achieving some stability in the crypto verse would take several ingredients. One of them would be to separate the wheat from the chaff. This allows cryptonauts to find coins that hold great potential and that are still very cheap because their market behavior doesn’t follow BTC as closely as many other currencies.

That matters because a blockchain project can only stay on the top of its game if it can attract enthusiastic developers that bring their talents to the network. That needs uninterrupted momentum. And that momentum and the evidence of strong fundamentals in the developing community attracts more talent, investor capital, and enthusiasm from traders. It’s all about creating a virtuous circle.

Are there any answers?

So how do we find the chaff? We would suggest starting by looking at the coins that made up the top 20% of the market capitalization by November 2017. At that time, everybody was doing well. But some of them negotiated the 2018 crypto winter successfully. Dash, Cardano, Tron, Litecoin, Ethereum, EOS would be examples of this.

They’re dependable in terms of fundamentals, but they’ve failed to capture the investors’ imagination. The market is at the same level of November 2017 right now, but these coins (reliable though they are) are still not at that level. They still have something like 25% to recover if they’re going to reach that goal. So this category is made up of substantial projects that are not in most people’s wish list.

Another bunch of currencies to notice is the group comprised of those that have lost capitalization in Bitcoin terms even in the current 2019 rally. There are about 540 coins in this situation, and some big names are included. NEO, IOTA, Stellar Lumens’ XLM, Ripple’s XRP, and Monero are among the best-known examples.

XLM and XRP’s primary use case is settling international transactions; Monero’s XRP is a currency that seeks to bring privacy and anonymity to the center of the crypto verse; IOTA wants to bring cryptocurrency into the Internet of Things world; NEO is a smart contract platform. So as you can see from this shortened list, we’re talking about solid projects with specific use cases.

So what to make of them? They’re bargains because if they gather momentum, they will become unstoppable. But they’re risky too. Monero, for instance, is unlikely to be tolerated by many of the world’s governments. XLM and XRP are competing with private blockchain projects that are trying to disrupt the same markets but that are developed by banks and work closely together with regulators. It’s not that they’re not good. On the contrary, they’re maybe too good for the mainstream to adopt.

Then we have Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, HyperCash, Gold Bits Coin, Metaverse ETP. They were 13% of the market’s worth in November 2017, and they’re not even close to recovering their value (in BTC terms) in the current market. They’ve been down by about 77%, and they don’t show any signs of any meaningful recovery. We would conjecture that mainstream investors, as far as any cryptonaut belongs to a mainstream, gave up on these coins a long time ago.

The next group, which some would consider the real chaff, is comprised of 111 currencies that were at USD 25 billion collectively at their peak but that they’re now under USD 1 billion. There are no recognizable names in this group.

So, we’re left with five cryptocurrencies that accounted for 53% of market cap on that infamous November 2017. They really went up when everything boomed during the next month. They suffered during 2018, but they still kept good value and, now, they’re back with a vengeance.

Are these good investments? Probably not, they could be too high in price all ready to take away profits soon, but they have shown they perform under any set of circumstances. These are the cryptocurrencies for all seasons. So who are they? Bitcoin, EOS, Binance Coin, Basic Attention Coin, and Freicoin. The last two projects may seem out of place as they lack fame but look at their numbers.

Investing in cryptocurrencies can be very profitable and very exciting. But there’s a reason for that. Investments that are so exciting and have such high returns always involve very high risks. Besides, there is still no regulation, and the whole crypto verse could disappear tomorrow (yes, it’s unlikely) if a couple of switches go off in China, where most mining in the world is made.

That being said, it can also happen that cryptocurrencies do find their way into the mainstream economy and become an essential agent with all the same uses that fiat money still has. The cryptocurrency market is at a crossroads, and we won’t know what happened until it’s already too late.

So what to do? First and foremost, you must do your own research. Find out each project’s strengths and trading histories, there are plenty of tools for that. Then make an investment plan and follow it through, don’t let your guts get the best of your head even (especially) when things are looking exceedingly sweet.

Also, diversification matters. Yes, Bitcoin is king. It will remain king. But you make a profit by buying low and selling high, and while that is still possible with BTC (and it will be possible many times again), if you’re going to hit the BTC jackpot, you’ll need to get your timing just right. And that is incredibly difficult.

Last but not least, have your fun as a crypto investor. But always remember that you should only get in with money you can afford to lose.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

Never miss our daily cryptocurrency news, price analysis, tips, and stories. Join us on Telegram | Twitter or subscribe to our weekly Newsletter.

Dogecoin (DOGE) is a total joke. Just as it should be

by

There’s always talk going around the crypto verse about how this or that needs to be “taken more seriously,” especially when it comes to achieving success. This cryptocurrency needs to be taken more seriously. That announcement by Mr. X needs to be taken more seriously. The crypto verse needs to take adoption more seriously. We could keep going. The thing is, this notion of taking things seriously is if you should forgive the pun, taken too seriously already.

This applies particularly well to Dogecoin (DOGE) which, it is said, needs to be taken more seriously and, yes, it’s already quite successful being the joke it is. Just look at the logo.

Dogecoin has been around for more than five years already, which means it’s among the oldest tokens in the cryptosphere. It’s one of the most active coins, and it’s very evenly distributed. And that’s been possible without any help from industry giants such as Coinbase or Binance, which keep turning away from Dogecoin.

And let’s not forget that this is a cryptocurrency that was born as a joke. No, we’re not joking (now). “Investing in Dogecoin, pretty sure it’s the next big thing.” Those were Jackson’s original Tweeter words. Then Dogecoin came into being because of the encouragement he received through laughter from many users reading that tweet.

Then Jackson met Billy online, and they thought of that “Doge” meme that was viral at the time. It was a joke. Another one. And it became the logo, created by Christine Ricks which is still Dogecoin’s flag.

Later on, when it arrived on Bitcointalk, it gathered momentum not because of its technology, or advantages, or because of the ease in mining it. It became popular just because it was a lot of fun, pure and simple.

Doge is a joke now as it was when it began. An idea conceived to mock the Bitcoin bubble. Sarcasm in practical terms. That’s how Billy and Jackson took a meme and ran with it to turn it into a fully fledged cryptocurrency network, encouraged by how much fun everybody else was having in the process.

Nobody could have foreseen the success that Dogecoin would achieve as a cryptocurrency back then. It was a joke, after all, it wasn’t supposed to stick, but it did, and it’s still around. And it’s become one of the most distinctive, charismatic, popular, and active cryptocurrencies in the crypto world.

And it remains a joke. So why should anybody worry about “taking it seriously”?

Nobody should worry about that. Moreover, nobody should ever take Doge seriously. It started as a joke. It is still a joke. And it’s good humor and good spirits behind the project that has driven it forward and made it successful.

That’s how it’s been, and that’s how it should remain.

To ask for Dogecoin users or the crypto verse, in general, to take it seriously is a betrayal of the project’s origins and purpose. Being a joke won’t make this coin any less useful or valuable, or real. It will just take away the enjoyment and fun it’s given us over the years.

So stop asking for seriousness. Dogecoin is a joke. And that’s how it should remain.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

CNBC host: Buy Litecoin (LTC) at any cost

by

The cryptocurrency world is full of surprises. CNBC’s Fast Money, an American talk show where panelists from Wall Street and various sectors review business-related tales, analyzed Litecoin and bitcoin’s metaphorical growth in recent periods.

According to CNN, the panel cheered and applauded at the allusion of Litecoin (LTC)’s 400% value growth. The CNBC host concluded the section screaming “Sell the house, sell the car, sell the kids. Buy litecoin!”

Litecoin price analysis

LTC/USD via the weekly table representation has delivered a powerful impact above a stout wall of friction, $90-100 scale. Litecoin (LTC) exchanged up 2.9% against the USD, and at the time of writing, it is now trading at $116.96. The amount of LTC addresses have increased drastically in the year 2019, and many notable recommendations have boosted the coin’s characterization.

After catching a low of USD 22 in December 2018, LTC has displayed a tremendous growth to USD 118.15 in May 2019. It’s a sudden growth of more than 400% that dominates even bitcoin’s growth. There is an opportunity for the buyers to push LTC/USD higher towards the all-time-high.

On Tuesday, the Litecoin price was trading under around 2.4%. LTC/USD in the concourse sketch the most significant level observed since June 2018. The coin is pushed above before halving programmed on August 6, 2019. Halving will decrease the profit of miners.

What is Halving?

Halving indicates that the commission accepted by Litecoin miners for processing and verifying purchases will be decreased by 50%, from 25 LTC to 12.5 LTC. As halvings are deemed to reduce reflation of the cryptocurrencies; they usually work as a robust bullish incentive. Investors anticipate a relative value development and try to purchase the coin before the situation.

What’s Next?

Franklyn Richards, Litecoin Foundation director, has cautioned investors about the recently developed excitement. He said litecoin might be joining bubble territory if the rate remains to decouple itself from the project’s underlying activities.

He said,

“Price has by far and away ran away from any on-chain metrics, meaning while this growth is positive it is not currently sustainable and we could see a pullback. Otherwise, we may risk finding ourselves in another bubble scenario sooner than we realize.”

Lately, Litecoin (LTC) was in the news when one user spent a price of $17,500 for executing transactions value of $1000. The transaction has been performed by the mining pool LTC.top, which is based in China. The transaction was completed in block 1636831. This huge transaction fee accelerated the normal fee from $0.05 to $0.70. It should be perceived that the transaction charges were not this big when the cryptocurrency was being exchanged nearby 398 USD in December 2017.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

Dubai-based crypto exchange BitOasis delists privacy tokens

by

The cryptocurrency market remains unregulated by the most part in most of the planet, so we haven’t seen politics exert any influence over it very often. That could be changing.

BitOasis

BitOasis is a cryptocurrency exchange and trade platform based in Dubai. It also offers mobile wallet services. The company aims to be global, but, for now, it works mainly for clients in the Middle East and Northern Africa. It was founded in 2015. It only received a preliminary license from the UAE’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority some twelve days ago.

And now, the platform is letting its customers know that starting next May 31st the cryptocurrencies known as ZEC (Zcash) and XMR (Monero) will be delisted. These two digital assets belong to the few blockchain projects in which privacy in every transaction is a paramount value. While transfers over these blockchains are entirely reliable and secure, they can’t be traced from the source to the target in any way, even by examining the blockchain directly.

The world’s governments are quite hostile to blockchains that privilege the users’ privacy. A few weeks ago, there was a proposal in France to ban those same two cryptocurrencies (among others) precisely because they create a blind spot for the government. The rationale behind the proposed ban is that such a high degree of privacy facilitates funding criminal and terrorist activities. Which could be true, of course, but nobody mentions that it also makes government control impossible, which is probably the most critical issue for governments.

Is BitOasis delisting those two coins to facilitate getting a full license from the government? It’s impossible to know. Everything goes in Dubai, after all, but there’s no way to find out for the time being.

The platform provides no explanations to customers at all. On the contrary, it asks of them to answer a set of very intrusive questions such as the origin of their ZEC or XMR assets, the purpose for which they own them, the purpose of withdrawing them from the platform (if there were withdrawals) and if they’ve bought any for third parties. So the platform is not only against private coins but also against respecting its users’ privacy by asking them to answer questions which are none of its business.

We don’t know the reason behind BitOasis’ move, because the platform has said nothing on the subject except that both tokens will be delisted. But given the features shared by both coins, it’s rather clear that the platform is getting rid of them because some of the world’s governments are not very happy about them.

Additionally, if you own some of either currency and you have it stored in this platform, you won’t be able to withdraw them as such. You’ll have to trade them for BTC or AED (the local country’s fiat).

BitOasis’ decision is sad because it’s a hit against privacy and freedom in the crypto verse. And what will happen when other projects like Tron or Bitcoin come up with enhanced privacy features, as they’re scheduled to do? Is there any point in having an exchange platform in which Bitcoin is also banned?

Unfortunately, it’s very likely that we will keep seeing exchange platforms running away from assets considered too disruptive by governments. Even if regulations don’t call for that.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

Cardano (ADA)’s Treasury System: Governance for the blockchain

by

When Satoshi Nakamoto published the now legendary Bitcoin whitepaper, he gave us the recipe to create a blockchain network and a cryptocurrency. However, he said nothing about how to keep them going.

Any blockchain network is, at its core, an organization. The software that sustains it needs maintenance, as does the system. Improving the technology’s performance requires research and development. It’s mostly not different from any enterprise you know. In short, blockchains need governance, and so far, it’s unclear what’s the best way to implement it.

Private companies, such as Ripple govern some blockchains and digital assets. Some others are backed up by non-profit organizations such as Bitcoin, LiteCoin and many others.

Cardano is proposing to solve this puzzle through something called “Cardano’s Treasury System.” The project’s development is in charge of Dr. Binshang Zhang, of the University of Lancaster. Cardano’s governance option seeks to solve two problems t the same time.

First, it provides a sustainable system to fund research, development, and maintenance, and other unavoidable expenses. Currently, organizations such as the Bitcoin Foundation do have research and development that keep improving the project. But they rely on sponsorships and donations to get the money they need to pay their developers, marketing, and other expenses related to the project’s administration.

While this is working fine at present, one has to wonder (as Cardano did) what happens in the long run? What if sponsors are not so generous in the future and the money to keep maintenance and developing going on dries up? The Cardano Treasury System is designed to avoid this problem and guarantee sustainability in the long term.

Second is the problem of governance. The project’s leadership, of course, must have a say in the decision-making process. But shouldn’t all those who keep the network going have a say as well? For instance, what would happen if the Bitcoin Foundation suddenly decides that SHA256 is not the best option for BTC anymore and it moves to another hash function, say SHA3, or any other?

That would put all the BTC miners of the world out of business overnight, and it would slow the network down considerably until the new mining process becomes as widespread as the old one. Such a radical scenario is highly unlikely, but it illustrates the need for a more democratic approach.

The Cardano governance model seeks to prevent authoritarian impositions from the leadership by introducing a form of democracy that’s neither direct nor representative. It’s called “liquid democracy.” In this scheme, actors with a right to vote have the right to either cast their vote directly or to delegate it to somebody else. The idea is to facilitate a process in which those who vote will always (or, at least, as often as possible) experts who understand the technology and the consequences of any decision.

As usual, Cardano is a force for innovation in the crypto verse. Its prospective governance and funding system is indeed very interesting, and it could become the rule for blockchain projects in the future. We’ll have to wait and see if other organizations in the blockchain community choose to adopt Cardano’s model and implement it in their respective organizations.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

Is cryptocurrency investment for you?

by

Bitcoin is the year’s best-performing asset class in the world so far. Say what you want about volatility, weird markets, lack of regulation or any of the other objections usually wielded by crypto-skeptics but the fact remains that, during this year, if you were out to make some money, there’s been a no better option.

Interest in digital assets, Bitcoin, in particular, is one of the pursuits that are pushing the financial world forward. Cryptocurrencies can be an alternative to the economic chaos that fiat currencies can be, especially during times of crisis. They also offer the possibility to be more inclusive and bring to the table some of the millions of people in the world who remained unbanked and out of the traditional financial system.

The problem is that the price of digital coins is highly volatile, which is not a problem when all the numbers are green, but that scares people off when the numbers are red, and the market is sinking like a led balloon. So a fair question would be, is Bitcoin (or cryptocurrencies) still a worthy investment?

The answer is decidedly affirmative. There are many reasons for that. For a start, Bitcoin is very likely to rise in value. We’re not talking about the dramatic increase we’ve seen over the last few weeks but in the long-term. Even during the 2018 bear market, it remains evident that Bitcoin’s price is always going to go up significantly, given enough time.

There’s no way of pinning down a date for when it will reach, say, USD 100k (if it goes that high), but chances are it will get there. That’s why Bitcoin is an excellent choice for those investors who are all about the fundamentals, discipline, and patience; but not always the thing for those who want to get rich quickly.

The media has had a lot to do with all the hype surrounding digital coins. The hype creates false expectations, and it can even affect the market’s performance. Fortunately, the media never pays a lot of attention for long. It’s usually only when things are either great or terrible. Then the dust sets down, and things go back to normal. That’s when you can see how the market really is behaving.

Accessibility to Bitcoin has improved dramatically. In the beginning, it was incredibly challenging to get ahold of some. You had to be part of a selected club of specialized technology aficionados, so to speak. These days, you can use your credit or debit cards, and even Paypal.

Mining bitcoins, on the other hand, is now a lot more complicated. The Bitcoin’s protocol increases the difficulty in the collision calculation that allows creating new blocks for the chain by design. But on top of that, a lot more people are mining BTC now, so it’s become a very competitive field. It takes a lot of expertise and high initial investment. And if the Bitcoin market isn’t doing well, mining won’t be profitable, unless you’re in China, like most miners are.

However, if you look at the big picture, Bitcoin does have the edge over the traditional legal tender currencies of the world. It’nd s about versatility and security. Completing international transfers with BTC is quick, cheap, reliable. And if you keep your digital wealth in a safe offline digital wallet, there’s just no way in which your tokens could be stolen, unlike your analog wallet which you could forget anywhere.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

Reddit LTC fans to the Litecoin Foundation: Go the Monero way

by

Litecoin (LTC) has a broad base of committed users and fans. You can see that in the coin’s Reddit discussion group (https://www.reddit.com/r/litecoin/) which is quite active and has 200k subscribers.

One of those users, known as “sittinginacafe,” posted a message just a few hours ago. He expressed his own strong preference and loyalty to the project, but he also acknowledged that there are things to improve in LTC, and he gave his point of view on that. This user believes that Litecoin needs more research and development and, for that, the Litecoin Foundation needs to raise more money? How should it do that? By following Monero’s (XMR) example.

A word about research and development. It takes money, for sure. Blockchain technology is state-of-the-art technology. It’s been around for about a decade only so it’s not made it yet to the university classroom. That means that finding code writers who are conversant with distributed ledgers is not as easy as finding javascript developers, for instance.

Also, being more highly qualified than the industry’s average, these guys expect to be compensated accordingly, as they should. So improving a blockchain’s technology takes a bit of knowledge and skill, and you have to pay for them.

Is Litecoin really lagging behind the cryptosphere in terms of keeping up to date? Some would think so. On the other hand, LTC resembles BTC very closely under the hood, so it can adopt Bitcoin’s new developments if it needs or wants to. That being said, keeping your research and development department up to scratch is always a good idea, and it will indeed take some money.

That brings us to the next thing, which is that the Litecoin Foundation isn’t as rich as some other organizations behind a blockchain project. LTC had no pre-mining stage, so it had no chance to accumulate some tokens to finance the project’s future. While we don’t know what’s the foundation’s financial status, it’s also true that raising funds for more research and development can’t possibly hurt it.

In sittinginacafe’s opinion, Monero had the same problem and solved it successfully by adopting a few concrete strategies, and the Litecoin Foundation should try them out. Here’s what he suggests:

  • A Forum Funding system could work for Lite Coin as it did for Monero. The latter cryptocurrency has such a policy in its forum. In there, each research and developing goal is assigned a number (in money) needed to fund it adequately. That way it’s the community which finances the project’s progress, thus making it more compact and committed to the project. Taking into account the 200k subscribers there are in Reddit alone plus the 800k people following Charlie Lee (LTC’s founder and leader) in Twitter, the pool of possible donators is vast, and this idea could work out fine.
  • Hiring great developers. Monero hired Howard Chu who was formerly at NASA. The idea is to get people with some deep academic and industrial credibility that will bring to the project their reputations and ability.
  • Put the bank to work. The Litecoin Foundation owns a percentage of a German bank, and it should use some of the bank’s fees to finance itself.
  • Wallet options. Let LTC wallets have the option to make donations. Also, let the wallets do swaps and have some of the fees go to LTC’s R&D.

Do you agree with those ideas? Do you think that they could really make a difference in Litecoin’s progress? They could. In the end, it’s Charlie Lee and the Litecoin Foundation who can listen to all those ideas and decide to implement them (or not).

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

Thailand’s oldest bank to adopt Ripple, but will it use XRP as well?

by

The Siam Commercial Bank (SCM) is the oldest bank in Thailand. It’s recently suggested that it could be trying out the wonders of blockchain technology by using one of Ripple’s applications.

The rumors started to circulate earlier this week when some users had a look at the banks’ Twitter account and noticed a few pics that seemed to be one of Ripple’s apps geared to facilitate international transactions. “Send money abroad today at the cheapest rates via Ripple,” you could see in a post entitled “SCB Easy.”

The SCB social media team has been rather slow in either denying or confirming any of the rumors. They just said that further details about Ripple’s integration into the bank’s technology arsenal will be announced soon.

Obviously, this is good news for Ripple aficionados. But not as good as it could be. It seems that while the bank will indeed adopt at least one of Ripple’s software solutions to remove friction from settling international payments, it also appears that they won’t be picking the one that uses Ripple’s XRP as a mediating coin. At least not at the beginning. SCB stated on Twitter:

“We will be using [b]lockchain [t]echnology for [R]ipple but as for XRP, you may have to wait for further announcement [sic].”

This is not the first bank in the world to join the Ripple Net. In fact, more than 200 banks all over the world are using Ripple’s software solutions in either pilot programs or at the production stages. Ripple’s adoption has been particularly fast in the Middle East, but it’s happening everywhere. The first early adopter (at production stage) was Banco Santander. The bank is using Ripple’s tech to power a mobile app that allows for instant exchanges of money in some countries in Western Europe.

Asia and crypto

The Asians market are particularly crucial for Ripple or any financial company. The apparent reason is that Asian countries are so densely populated. Maybe less evidently, it just so happens that Asia is probably the most active zone of the world when it comes to cryptocurrency. Most of Bitcoin’s mining happens in China, and the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange platform (Binance) is an Asian company as well.

Ripple is well aware of Asia’s relevance. That’s why it recently announced that it would be increasing its personnel in Asia (based in Singapore) significantly during the next few months.

It’s no surprise that Siam Commercial Bank wants to start slow with Ripple. Inertia is a powerful force in the financial world everywhere, but it’s even stronger in Asia where traditions are more important than in, say, Central Europe, just to name an example. That being said, banks all over the world can jump in any wagon very quickly once they’re sure that there’s something in it for them, especially savings.

So Ripple keeps gaining new strategic partners everywhere and reporting good news. XRP is trading at USD 0.38115 as we write this, and it remains the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

Russia’s Sberbank wants details about a client’s crypto activities

by

According to the Russian Forbes, the Russian bank Sberbank (which is the country’s largest) has requested a client to provide details on the income they get from cryptocurrencies.

Vladimir Smerkis, who co-founded the cryptocurrency trading and exchange platform tokenbox.io, communicated to Forbes portal that the client in question (who remains anonymous so far) had a letter delivered from Sberbank in which the institution asked him to disclose his revenues originated from digital assets.

The request is based, according to the bank, in Russia’s Federal law number 115 known as “On Combating Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing.” The irregular factor in the scenario is that this client claims to have already given the bank all the information regarding its cryptocurrency income.

More definitely, the bank wanted to be aware of the client’s cryptocurrency wallet’s address. Also, the mining tool the client uses to mine digital coins (Bitcoin, presumably) described to the last detail (model, technical specifications, hash rates, the whole nine yards).

If all the above requests weren’t intrusive enough the bank also wanted all the documentation that confirms the ownership (or rental) of the mining hardware, as well as of the premises in which the mining farm is set up. Sberbank confirmed all the information, Forbes informs.

Smerkis expressed is dismay over the Russian’s bank attitude:

“We are very much perturbed by how Sberbank can appeal to terms that do not yet exist in Russian law.”

Another Russian crypto personality, Artem Tolkachev (CEO and founder of Tokenomica, a regulated decentralized exchange) said that there’s nothing new about Sberbank’s demands because traditional financial institutions “operate within their regulatory framework for handling cash. So it is a way of legally introducing cryptocurrency revenues into circulation.”

The news comes as a stark contrast to declarations issued by Dimitry Medvedev, Russia’s prime minister, who declared only a couple of weeks ago that the regulation of cryptocurrencies is not a primacy for the government of Russian because the cryptosphere has lost a lot of its popularity in the country recently.

Medvedev remarked that crypto had its fair share of attention one year ago, during May 2018, when he pressed for the government to create national legislation that could, at least, be useful in dealing with some of the most essential things in crypto.  On that occasion, the minister finished by saying that while the BTC hype has diminished, the rest of the crypto market could still rally.

That prompted the creation of Russia’s first legislative effort towards cryptocurrencies “On Digital Financial Assets” which was promulgated by the Russian parliament’s lower house in May last year.

But it wasn’t an effective effort because the Duma discarded it after the first reading and sent it back. The issue was that critical notions such as “cryptocurrency mining” were not clearly defined within the law. So crypto remains in the legal limbo of Russia.

The mixed information provided by Forbes leaves unanswered an important question. Does the bank have the legal right to ask such information from clients? Is the client legally obligated to provide such intrusive information to this bank in particular? This, as well as many other questions in Russia, are quite murky and remain a mystery in the West.

Disclaimer: Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

Digibyte: We’re still not fully bullish, but endurance is critical

by

Maybe you have suspicions. Perhaps you suspect that at long last the bulls have arrived in the cryptocurrency market. There’s plenty of evidence to that. Bitcoin went above USD 8k over the weekend; it dragged the rest of the crypto verse along with it so most coins are in green numbers and it seems that no digital asset lacks momentum.

So with a few exceptions, every digital currency is doing very well lately. Digibyte (DGB) seems to be one of those exceptions. It’s gone up by 7% in 12 hours, and, over the last 24, it’s lost almost 2% though. By contrast, plenty of other cryptocurrencies have been trading in double-figure green numbers.

How to interpret this situation? Is Digibyte (DGB) a bad investment? Not at all. Some altcoins have fared very well over the last few days, but if you look at the altcoin space as a whole, the big picture will show you that the altcoin’s real momentum is yet to arrive.

Bitcoin is the drive behind the crypto verse’s behavior, as usual. It’s gone from USD 4,5k to USD 8,0k in six weeks. The rise of the mother and father of all digital currencies didn’t affect the altcoin market for weeks, which was something of an anomaly pointed out by many analysts. So if you put DGB’s behavior in this context, there’s nothing weird or negative going on. That’s how most altcoins have behaved against BTC’s surge, except for a lucky handful of assets that have reacted quickly.

DGB’s time is about to come

That is not to say that altcoins will keep somehow isolated from Bitcoin’s rise. As long as BTC keeps soaring, the whole market will keep going up as well, and the altcoins of the world will join. It will happen for sure and, when it does, Digibyte will go up as well. So the current scenario isn’t harmful or tragic. On the contrary, it’s an excellent opportunity to buy cheap and rip the benefits when the altcoin rally comes.

And let’s not forget that market traction isn’t everything. Fundamentals matter a great deal too, and DGB enjoys some of the best fundamentals in the market. Its degree of decentralization is among the highest in the crypto verse (it boasts 200k nodes scattered all over the planet). It includes five mining algorithms, and because one of them is Odocrypt (a hashing algorithm exclusive to DGB), it can’t be mined using ASIC hardware.

Because mining with specialized hardware is impossible in the DGB world, the field is leveled for miners, which means that decentralization is guaranteed in the long-term. This is in stark contrast with, say, Bitcoin, which is currently mainly mined in China because that’s where most ASIC manufacturers and buyers are. The high decentralization degree in the network also makes it way safer than almost any other cryptocurrency on the planet, and that feature alone could make it attractive for investors.

So the bulls are not in the DGB field yet. That makes of this moment the time to accumulate it, and then enjoy the benefits when the rally begins.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.