Watford FC Puts Bitcoin’s “B” Logo on Sleeve; Begins Accepting BTC As Payment Method

Andres Chavez
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Watford FC Puts Bitcoin’s “B” Logo on Sleeve; Begins Accepting BTC As Payment Method

Cryptocurrencies are quickly gaining ground worldwide, in several industries: fashion, retail, commerce, banking, government instutitions, universities, and many more. However, sports are starting to grow and professional teams have become the primary adopters of cryptocurrencies, as these assets can help them grow.

Such is the case of the English Premier League side Watford FC. The outfit will have a new partner, one that is recognized all over the world: yes, the club will have the “B” symbol of Bitcoin printed on the players’ sleeves.

Acquiring Merchandise with BTC

Additionally, the team will begin accepting the world’s most influential cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC) as a payment method for those fans that want to acquire merchanside through the official channels.

The information was announced and made official by the club itself via a post on its web page. That way, Watford will have the worldwide famous “B” logo associated with Bitcoin featured on its uniforms, as part of a partnership with Sportsbet.io, a BTC betting ecosystem.

The official statement detauled that the addition of the “B” logo on Watford’s kit is actually part of a broader plan, in which the club will be looking to “improve awareness around Bitcoin and educate the public on the benefits of using cryptocurrencies.”

A Tough Season

The season is still young in the Premier League, the top-flight division of the professional football ladder in England. After just four games, Watford currently occupies the last spot of the table, with no victories, one draw, and three defeats until now.

However, the squad has enough talent to perform in the pitch, with good players such as Tom Cleverley, Gerard Deulofeu, captain Troy Deeney, Jose Holebas, Roberto Pereyra, Etienne Capoue, Danny Welbeck, and Sebastian Prodl, among others.

According to Justin Le Brocque, currently the Head of marketing of Watford’s primary shirt sponsor Sportsbet.io, the firm is always looking for ways to contribute to the ever-increasing crypto community.

“The crypto community have been hugely supportive of us since we began, so putting the Bitcoin logo on the sleeve felt like a fun way to give something back whilst also showing them our support,” he stated.

Educating the Public on Cryptocurrencies

“Some of the biggest challenges we and others like us face is raising awareness, dispelling common myths around cryptos and educating the public on the advantages and opportunities presented by cryptocurrencies,” Le Brocque expressed.

Interestingly, the sponsorship deal will be crowdfunded, and any person will be able to bid BTC to access a public LED space that will be shown live in games, as well as exclusive official merchandise of Watford FC. Per Le Brocque, he is hoping that the pact “will create even more buzz around cryptocurrencies.”

Meanwhile, Watford’s Scott Duxbury, the Chairman and CEO, added that “placing the Bitcoin logo on a Premier League shirt is something that challenges the accepted norm. We’re excited about the partnerships and the potential for new global conversations that it could help start for our club.”

By Andres Chavez

Beta Version of Trezor Is Launched only for Bitcoin

Willmen Blanco
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Beta Version of Trezor Is Launched only for Bitcoin

Satoshi Labs announced that the beta version for the Trezor One and Trezor Model T is now available. Altcoiners will receive support by selecting the regular firmware for other cryptocurrencies.

The manufacturer of cryptocurrency cold wallets SatoshiLabs, company behind the Trezor brand, reported that the beta version of its firmware is only available for Bitcoin. Thus, it establishes a new logical program to reconfigure the way in which each device that uses the update is controlled.

The personalization of the wallet, in its Trezor One and Trezor Model T versions, is said to be oriented toward the main cryptocurrency in the market and the launch of its consolidated version is expected by October.

SatoshiLabs noted that the new version, of both the firmware and the wallet, was conceived and designed for all those users supporting the idea of Bitcoin as the only cryptocurrency, that is, to meet Bitcoin maximalists’ demand.

The wallet interface can only be enjoyed with Bitcoin, since all the Trezor One and the Model T features are available only for this cryptocurrency. The company said that it will continue offering support to altcoiners through its regular firmware version.

In its account on the Reddit platform, SatoshiLabs answered many questions from its users. Among them, some asked about the benefit of using a Trezor only for Bitcoin and some others about the risk of losing cryptocurrencies after installing the beta version.

The manufacturer answered that the users do not need to restore the seeds and that there is no risk of losing Bitcoins. SatoshiLabs explained that it was just that the beta wallet contains features particular to Bitcoin, like hiding the currency selector. It further indicated that users can switch between the traditional firmware and the Bitcoin-only firmware as often as they want.

Before installing the program, it is recommended to test the words recovery seeds. The company added that, after installing the Bitcoin-only firmware, all other cryptocurrencies will disappear from the wallet interface whilst the private keys of the altcoins will remain protected within the Trezor. As they explain, the firmware can be exchanged on the device as many times as necessary.

In the computer world, a firmware is nothing but a program with basic instructions that allows handling a certain device. This program can be stored in the ROM memory or another type of storage medium inside the electronic device.

Installation Process

To install the Bitcoin firmware, SatoshiLabs explains that there are two methods for its implementation: using the Trezor wallet or through the trezorctl commands (for advanced users), a tool written in Python language that can be used with the device.

In the first case, the user has to connect the wallet to the computer and visit the website to download the firmware’s beta version. If using the Model T, it must be checked if the firmware is updated to a version higher than 2.1.0.

Then, it is necessary to write “custom_firmware” after the device identifier in the web address (URL), download the file and select “choose file” for the uploading process. At this point, the wallet will require that the updating process be started.

For the second scenario, the user must download the file corresponding to the wallet model, place the device in bootloader mode, and confirm the connection in the wallet.

This announcement of SatoshiLabs comes just a few days after that of a new security system enabled to recover private keys.

By Willmen Blanco

French Finance Minister Says The Country “Can’t Authorize” Libra’s Development in Europe

Andres Chavez
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French Finance Minister Says The Country “Can’t Authorize” Libra’s Development in Europe

Approximately three months after the project was unveiled for the first time, Facebook’s Libra stablecoin is still making headlines, but not for promising reasons, sadly. The asset, being linked to a company with famous privacy breach cases througout time, has had a hard time on the regulations side.

In the latest development, it was reported by news network CNBC that France has the intention of blocking the development of the Libra project in European soil, which is undoubtedly a huge hit for the social networking giant and its crypto payments network.

Cited by CNBC, the French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire stated that the European nation cannot allow the launch Libra, Facebook’s proposed crypto project, in the continent because the “monetary sovereignty of states is at stake.”

A Firm Stance

Le Maire’s position on the matter is, at least according to what he has shown, firm. He delivered his thougts about the matter in Paris, France’s capital city, at the inauguration ceremony of the OECD Global Blockchain Policy Forum 2019.

“All these concerns around Libra are serious. So I want to say this with a lot of clarity: I want to be absolutely clear: in these conditions, we cannot authorize the development of Libra on European soil,” he is quoted as saying at the gathering.

France is not the only country in which Facebook and its associated projects Libra (the cryptocurrency and payments network) and Calibra (the digital wallet) have had issues on the regulations’ side. Other European nations have opposed to the project, as have several high-profile American congressmen.

Widespread Concerns about the Project

To be more specific, regulators and lawmakers in the United States of America have made it clear that they are worried. They have repeatedly expressed their concerns “with allowing a large tech company to create a privately controlled, alternative global currency.”

Almost immediately upon its revealing in the month of June, Le Maire made it known that he would ask the social network company for guarantees to ensure that Libra would not be exploitable and used to finance activities such as terrorism.

The CNBC report details that Le Maire has been an “outspoken opponent of libra since Facebook unveiled the project in June. In addition to concerns the cryptocurrency could undermine the sovereignty of other nations’ currencies, he has highlighted issues with money laundering, terrorism financing and market dominance. Regulators around the world have echoed those fears.”

An attribute of the Sovereignty of the States

The Finance Minister also defended the notion that Facebook’s proposed stablecoin project was “an attribute of the sovereignty of the States” and because of that it should remain “in the hands of the States and not of the private companies which answer to private interests.”

Whilst Libra developers and staffers of the payments network stated in June that the ecosystem would be up and running in the first half of 2019, it remains to be seen if they get the permits and proper licenses to guarantee full compliance and a fully-regulated assets that users can trust.

By Andres Chavez

Twitter does not Have Plans to Create its own Cryptocurrency

Maria Rodríguez
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Twitter does not Have Plans to Create its own Cryptocurrency

Twitter, unlike Facebook with Libra, plans to use existing cryptocurrencies to develop future market plans

Jack Dorsey, Co-founder and current CEO of Twitter, said during an interview that they are not thinking about developing a cryptocurrency that addresses the crypto market, as Facebook has recently done.

In addition, Dorsey is also CEO of the popular Square payment platform. As responsible for both companies, he said they prefer to work with existing cryptographic platforms, such as Bitcoin.

The statements were offered by Dorsey, during a visit he made last September 5th to Australia. Interviews were conducted simultaneously for local media such as The Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Financial Review, and The Age.

The objective of the visit that the executive made to the country was mainly to closely verify the impact of the new devices of his digital payments company, Square.

When analyzing these statements about the decisions that both companies have as a future, it can be ruled out that Twitter or Square are planning to create a token that competes directly with Facebook’s ambitions, and especially with its next cryptocurrency, Libra. This gives the idea that Twitter is heading in another direction. “I think that open internet standards serve each person better than those controlled or initiated by companies”, Dorsey said.

In this way, the executive said that the plans he has for his companies are in the direction of using cryptocurrencies to promote projects supported thanks to the Internet, thus assuming the creation of products and services that drive the use of tokens. The companies will use existing cryptocurrencies to carry out their future business and projects.

“In the long term, cryptocurrencies will help us to be more and more like an Internet company where we can launch a product and everyone can use it, instead of having to go from one market to another, from one bank to another, and from one regulatory body to another”, Twitter CEO explained.

About this surprising response, Dorsey said he was very motivated to use Bitcoin for his future projects within companies. In addition, he shared his point of view regarding the characteristics of the BTC. “I think Bitcoin is the best bet because it has been the most resilient. It’s around for ten years, it has a great brand, and it has been tested a bunch”.

In this way, Dorsey supported his thesis that the Internet needs a native currency that helps to capitalize and strengthen a market within the web. “Internet needs a native currency. I don’t know if it will be Bitcoin or not. I hope it is”.

In spite of those statements that Dorsey offered last year, in the recent interview there was a possible failure in the entire Bitcoin system since he commented that he is not sure that cryptocurrencies have reached its maximum potential, and that they are not yet so accessible and usable by everyone.

By María Rodríguez

Mexicans Will Compete in Trading Challenge Awarded with Bitcoin

Willmen Blanco
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Mexicans Will Compete in Trading Challenge Awarded with Bitcoin

Scores will be measured based on performance and volumes in MXN and BTC. The competition will be held between September 10th and October 10th.

Bitso, Mexico-based cryptocurrency exchange house, announced the creation of a trading competition that will award those with the best performance in their transactions for one month. Through its website, Bitso explained that more than 450,000 Mexican pesos (MXN) will be awarded to the winners. This is equivalent to more than USD 20,000.

Through a publication on its portal, the Mexican exchange house presented the details of the Trading Cup. It doesn’t matter what trades you do but how you multiply them, according to a basic principle of the event.

The Trading Cup will be held on the platform of the exchange house between Tuesday, September 10th and October 10th. The introduction of the contest describes that any user enrolled in Bitso can participate. This will be possible, provided that they are natural persons and comply with level 2 verification. Additionally, participants must be over 18 years old and have no business relationship with the exchange house, as either employees or former employees.

Participants will accumulate points based on three factors. The first factor is based on the percentage of performance, with each percentage point equal to 100 points from the competition.

The second aspect will be the volume in MXN, with a scale ranging from 5 to 400 points. Finally, the “BTC Trading Volume Multiplier” will be applied. This last measure will be governed by the user with the highest volume in the cryptocurrency exchange markets. That user will have a 2X multiplier, that is, the points will be doubled while the rest of the participants will have a multiplier based on the proportion of their volume with respect to the highest.

Bitso explains that, if a competitor’s highest volume is equivalent to 20 BTC, that will be 100% and the user would be assigned a 2X multiplier. The exchange house sets as an example that, if another competitor reaches 15 BTC, he or she would be assigned a 1.75X multiplier.

Prices for the First 10 Places

Regarding the prices, the first place will get a total of MXN 200,000 (around USD 10,000). The second best trader will take MXN 100,000 and the third will win MXN 50,000. The first three places will also receive a kit with promotional material from Bitso.

The participants who finish the competition in the places between the fourth and the tenth will have a prize of MXN 20,000, in addition to a shirt of the exchange house. Bitso will liquidate all the prizes in Bitcoin, according to the average-weighted price of the day before the liquidation.

Bitso advanced this trading competition before during the Blockchain Summit Latam México 2019. There, the Bitso team advanced the Trading Cup as part of the Alpha launch. It is a platform more focused on traders than its original interface. In Alpha, users have technical analysis tools, an order and balance display, and other features. The proposal seeks that traders can make their movements with a larger amount of information available.

By Willmen Blanco

Top-Traded Cryptocurrencies’ Weekly Performance Statistics

Willmen Blanco
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Top-Traded Cryptocurrencies’ Weekly Performance Statistics

Bitcoin has risen 37% in the last three months while altcoins lose their value. Only Bitcoin and Bitcoin SV have registered a positive trajectory of + 4%.

The last week of August 2019 was relatively quiet regarding the price fluctuation of the top 5 cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin rose 4% whilst Ether, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple and Litecoin fell at least 3%, according to a report by Coin Metrics. The data analysis firm notes that the behavior of the cryptocurrency market helps confirm Bitcoin’s dominance.

The main assets decreased during the week of September 5th, with the exception of Bitcoin (+ 4%) and Bitcoin Cash SV (+ 0.4%). Bitcoin’s superior performance continued during this period of time, it has even rebounded and recovered all its losses, while the other crypto assets remain significantly bearish.

Market capitalization decreased for the top 5 cryptocurrencies, which are shown in red in the Coin Metrics table. However, there was an increase in the transaction count, except for Ether, which had a loss of 0.2% under this line.

Another prominent fact in the report, regarding the state of the top 5 cryptocurrencies’ network, is related to the increase in the number of addresses with at least 10 BTC. On September 1st, 157,216 addresses were registered with that balance, which represent one percent of all Bitcoin holders, thus reaching its all-time high.

Additionally, there are currently 614,500 addresses containing between 1 and 10 BTC. Meanwhile, about 0.5% of all Bitcoin addresses contain between 10 and 100 BTC.

Like Bitcoin, the Ethereum network has also reached an all-time high, since as of September 1st 5,923,953 ETH addresses have had at least a ten billionth of the offer, equivalent to at least 0, 0108 ETH (USD 1.86), given the ETH offer of 107,568,118.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) had an increase in active addresses and transactions, which has increased over 200%. However, the adjusted BCH transfer value only grew 3.5%. Although the BCH had a large increase, both in transactions and transfers, these transactions are likely to include relatively small amounts of BCH.

Ether, the second cryptocurrency, with a capitalization of USD 18.9 billion, has been oscillating in a narrow range with a bearish bias. The ETH/USD has remained virtually unchanged both on a day-to-day basis and since the beginning of Wednesday, having receded from the recent high of USD 182.97 reached on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Ripple was priced in the red (USD 0.261014) on September 4th, with a fall of 0.80%. The XRP/USD price action remains in consolidation mode, also moving in a bearish structure.

No Tamper Signals

According to Coin Metrics analysts, futures exchange houses, mainly BitMEX and CME, are important trading rooms, in which there is significant trading activity due to the ability to use leverage for long or short positions. In an attempt to obtain benefits in the futures market, these factors have led some operators to try to influence the movement of prices in the spot market.

However, the report does not show signs of market manipulation regarding the sale of August 28th, despite some examples of such activity in the past.

The first sign of increased trading activity was recorded in the currency market (BTC/USD) during the 20-second interval, around 17:54 UTC. Three large sales orders were executed at USD 10,240 (72 BTC were sold, equivalent to about USD 740,000).

By Willmen Blanco

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