Plustoken: a Non-Existing Transaction that Affected Bitcoin Price

Willmen Blanco
-
0
Plustoken: a Non-Existing Transaction that Affected Bitcoin Price

The market began to fall days before the PlusToken transactions actually occurred. In May 2019, addresses associated with the scam also moved funds amid the bullish market.

Once it was learned that some addresses, allegedly related to a Ponzi scheme from China, made large transactions in Bitcoin, some market analysts jumped to say that this caused the decline in cryptocurrency prices.

It is advised to investigate what really happened before jumping to wrong conclusion. Dovey Wan, founder of a cryptocurrency company and follower of the Chinese ecosystem on Twitter, reported that the addresses associated to the alleged scam had been making large transactions for some time.

During May 2019, for example, one of the Bitcoin addresses mentioned by Wan sent more than 30,000 BTC in multiple transactions. In August, another address disposed of about 38,000 BTC, that is, a very similar figure. Consequently, it cannot be said that these PlusToken transactions have led to a fall in the price of Bitcoin.

The 4 transactions, for a total surpassing 37,900 BTC, were conducted on August 13th. Coincidentally, in recent days the price of Bitcoin had lost more than 10%, going from US $11,800 until resisting above US $10,000, although there was a temporary fall to US $9,600, according to CoinMarketCap data.

However, it should be highlighted that the fall did not occur after the date of the transactions at the mentioned addresses (August 13th). At least since Saturday 10th, the Bitcoin pace has been bearish.

Not only had the transactions already occurred during the bearish market, but also Dovey Wan’s reports drawing the attention of the ecosystem to the matter, had not arrived until Wednesday 14th. One day after the movement of almost 38,000 BTC and some more after Bitcoin began to fall in the market.

It can be observed that the movements made in May occurred within a period of about 15 days, during which the price did not fall. On the contrary, Bitcoin began the month of May above US $5,300 and by the 18th it had earned about 38%, surpassing US $7,200. Besides, in that period it reached peaks above US $8,000.

Although these events were very similar, they showed very different behaviors in the market. Thus, it is hard to identify the alleged influence of the PlusToken case on the price of Bitcoin. The TokenAnalyst firm considers it unlikely that this has affected the market. One of the analysts, Sid Shekhar, said in this regard that it appears that the PlusToken addresses that were moving funds are not associated with any exchange house. However, Wan mentioned Bittrex and Huobi regarding the case, besides showing the possibility that the company was also operating through Binance.

There have been cases of whales making large transactions in a short time period that have been seen to affect the price of Bitcoin. Events such as failures in some exchange houses or the emergence of large projects such as the Facebook project may also influence it. However, this particular case raises the paradoxical question of how an event that has not even occurred can affect the price of Bitcoin.

By Willmen Blanco

Ethereum and NEM blockchains succeed in Bolivia despite bans

Willmen Blanco
-
0
Ethereum and NEM blockchains succeed in Bolivia despite bans

Participants in the App Challenge in Bolivia propose blockchain solutions for the stock market. The Bolivian ecosystem moves slowly due to lack of information and regulations.

On July 27th, the Bolivian Stock Exchange organized the “First App Challenge of Financial Technologies.” Of three participating initiatives focused on blockchain, one took second place in the competition.

Rodrigo Quiroz and Gabriela Melendrez, the “Bond Tokenization” team that won the second prize in the App Challenge, explained that their project is a platform that helps verify the information of bonds before they are placed in the stock market. This information is tokenized to track transactions on the NEM blockchain. Regarding the technology that they used, Quiroz believes that NEM adapts perfectly to the needs of the solution and its ease of asset tokenization.

Fernando Ontiveros, co-founder of Process Maker, who also participated in the challenge, developed a platform with Ethereum technology for the process of issuing and placing securities in the primary market. He said that his solution is built precisely on POA and Parity, two Ethereum-based complementary technologies.

The project demonstrates how two key technologies can improve the processes in which several participants of the Stock Exchange engage, according to Ontiveros. He says that business process management (BPM) is used to model the process of structuring, issuing and placing securities. A decentralized database such as blockchain was incorporated to reduce the time of processes due to friction between participants. Besides, smart contracts helped reinforce and standardize the process.

In this way, the hackathon-like projects that arise from these competitions are focused on creating applications. Additionally, they help and encourage developers who seek to solve problems. Regarding this, the authorities of the Bolivian entity said that they were very committed to innovation. Apart from the monetary prize to the teams, they promised to support the implementation of the winning solutions, while giving them the opportunity to continue the career in an international stock exchange competition.

Cryptocurrency Regulation and Ecosystem in Bolivia

Quiroz says that the cryptocurrency ecosystem in Bolivia is moving slowly due, in part, to the lack of information and the regulations. The Central Bank of Bolivia (CBB) promulgated resolution 044/2014, which prohibits using currencies not issued or regulated by Bolivian states, together with monetary denominations such as cryptocurrencies not authorized by the CBB, within the scope of the national payment system.

Even so, the cryptocurrency community in Bolivia is very active, since technology always moves faster than regulations. Fernando Ontiveros collaborates with Gabriela Melendrez in the Bolivian Mind Blockchain community, talking about blockchain and cryptocurrencies to inform people about the subject.

Likewise, the Departments of La Paz, Cochabamba, Tarija and Santa Cruz lead P2P exchanges. Services such as Bitrefill are also available for cell phone recharge. For its part, the AsoBlockchain Bolivia community is committed to training professionals in this area and organizing educational activities at universities.

The country is characterized by having a population with little access to digital payment systems and financial services. Citizens have naturalized paper procedures and certifications based on physical receipts that are easy to forge.

In that sense, blockchain-based notarizations to protect the integrity of documents, such as Open Time Stamp, Bitcoin MIT Blockcerts, Ethereum Stamping and NEM Apostille, could be useful solution alternatives.

By Willmen Blanco

Binance’s Venus Could “Help Libra,” According to “CZ”

Andres Chavez
-
0
Binance’s Venus Could “Help Libra,” According to “CZ”

Following Facebook’s announcement of the Libra project, the crypto scene underwent a revolution that, inter alia, had a direct impact on Bitcoin’s and altcoins’ price. A few weeks later, major cryptocurrency exchange Binance had been talking about following suit with a similar ecosystem.

And, whilst numerous pundits and investors have identified Venus, which is Binance’s stablecoin project, as a possible competitor to Facebook’s Libra, that may not be the case, at least according to the crypto exchange’s CEO Changpeng Zhao.

Focusing on Regional Affairs

The company itself, via a blog post published at the start of the week, expressed a similar sentiment to that of “CZ.” It explained that whereas Libra has the intention of being a global project, Binance’s Venus would like to focus in regional affairs, at least at first.

Additionally, and per Binance’s announcement of the Venus ecosystem, it will be more versatile in the sense that it will help other localized, fiat-pegged stablecoins develop, as well as other digital assets.

In a similar (but not exactly the same) way as Facebook’s Libra seeked the help of third-parties in the way of “founding members” and investors, Binance will also search for allianced and partnerships that help the exchange pave the way for the development of its stablecoin. Some of the desired partners will be governmental institutions, firms, and other blockchain-related actors.

The Binance Chain

People inside the industry with knowledge on the matter are speculating (it is not official as of now, though) that Venus will be developed on the Binance Chain, a platform that has already seen the creation of other stablecoins such as BTCB, pegged to the value of Bitcoin, and BGBP, pegged to the value of the GBP.

A Twitter user asked that to CZ, and the Binance CEO responded that “details will come soon,” but also, “we know Binance Chain best, of course.”

CZ states that Binance’s idea is not to dominate the stablecoin market through Venus, but instead, he wants it to promote crypto adoption, and because of that, he thinks that Binance’s project may ultimately help Libra.

Pushing Adoption

Once again via Twitter (and using his official account, @cz_binance,) Zhao wrote: “Pushing adoption, yes.  Domination, no.  Always happy to co-exist.”

Regarding the subject, Chris Wittenborn, who is currently the Head of Business Development & Strategy at Velocity Markets, told a specialized financial news site that “assuming full legal and regulatory compliance, anything that helps regulators become familiar with this ecosystem is a benefit for both Binance but also Libra as they might be able to learn from some of the successes and failures of Binance.”

Competition can be beneficial if it is healthy and if it will lead to a common, greater good, and that appears to be the case in this particular situation. If a crypto exchange, as big as Binance, comes up with a big ecosystem, it will help spread the word about the benefits of cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, exchanges, and other related terms.

By Andres Chavez

Russian Government Will Use Ethereum to Offer more Transparency in Services

Maria Rodríguez
-
0
Russian Government Will Use Ethereum to Offer more Transparency in Services

The blockchain information management system is based on the Ethereum network and is mostly used for the management of farmers.

The Russian government hopes to reach agreements with blockchain service contractor companies, to build a system that allows the Moscow state administration to store information and data about its processes and documents.

It was known, through a Russian news agency, that the government, through the Department of Information Technology, began a series of auctions that would help begin the development of the blockchain system project based on the Ethereum network. This means that all citizen files will be protected electronically.

Due to all the things that are necessary to execute these decisions, and in order to begin the development, the authorities began raising the funds. It is estimated that an amount of approximately 57 million Russian rubles is necessary. Therefore, the beginning of the project would need about 860 thousand US dollars.

According to information and data about the project approach, there are some central purposes and services that this platform will offer. Among them is the possibility of conducting documentation between property and real estate owners and their residents.

In the same vein, there is an alternative to define the spaces that will be used by merchants and farmers in some municipal markets. It is believed that the system will be able to host around 1.5 million viewers as a maximum capacity.

The Information Technology Department assured that through the implementation of this alternative, the plan will make its clients and citizens feel more confident in their responses to administrative problems. In this way, a better transparency is obtained using blockchain technology as a flag.

Looking for Agreements

Data provided by local media explains in technical terms that the installation of the administrative platform can take about 60 days. But for this to have a real movement in particular, the agreements between the state and the contractors must be completed and the terms and agreements for the alliance defined.

The Moscow government mentioned that this platform will be incorporated into other experimental blockchain projects that have been jointly developed. Among them stands out an election platform that will serve the public administration to conduct surveys to its citizens about daily issues and public services, such as the construction of new cycling routes, as well as to qualify municipal events.

The blockchain project has been called Active Citizen. It has been active in Moscow since 2017. According to some press reports, the system is expected to be incorporated into the legislative voting network; this in order to use blockchain technology in electoral matters. This makes the platform a more viable option that would benefit 6% of voters in Russia.

Finally, regarding the blockchain system used for the allocation of trade spaces, this plan has benefited, since 2018, around 20 thousand people engaged in various commercial activities; most of them were farmers. It is been reported the allocation of 2,700 commercial shelves for this sector.

By María Rodríguez

More than CoinMarketCap Is Needed to Analyze Cryptocurrency Market

Willmen Blanco
-
0
More than CoinMarketCap Is Needed to Analyze Cryptocurrency Market

Cryptocurrencies with less than US $100,000 in daily exchange volume are among the top 50. Indiscriminate information published by CoinMarketCap is not the best source to analyze the market.

CoinMarketCap is an extensive database of the more than 2,440 currently existing crypto assets, including information on market capitalization and exchange volume, among other data. Although it is a reference in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, the information that it publishes is not entirely reliable.

The figures presented on Bitcoin and other large crypto assets are similar to their real volumes. However, those on small cryptocurrencies are inaccurate, a little unclear, with insignificant daily exchange volumes, despite having a large market capitalization. This is shown in important purchasing peaks, which suggests strength and interest in the project in question, although it is not really true.

The problem is also observed among the first 100 cryptocurrencies in the CoinMarketCap list, which are mistakenly seen as “investment opportunities.” Unsuspecting/unacquainted or inexperienced investors might consider that these cryptocurrencies, which are among the most capitalized, could offer a good return. Consequently, they would be trapped in liquid currency and market positions.

Low Liquidity with High Capitalization?

These cases of low liquidity cryptocurrencies, but with huge capitalization, seem especially striking. Energi (NRG), for example, with a market capitalization of US $137,650,881, is located at position 47 of the CoinMarketCap list.

However, Energi’s daily exchange volume does not even reach 1% of this figure, so the current price of US $7.04 has been reached with just US $847,825. In addition, with only 77.70 BTC of daily exchange, it is among the top 50 cryptocurrencies in the market, offering an investment option that might not be as successful as the information suggests.

The cryptocurrency aims at leading worldwide market by unifying smart contracts, governance and self-financed treasury to guarantee longevity and allow rapid growth. Other projects have a better technical capacity to do this, so the future value of this cryptocurrency may not be enough, despite being among the 50 most capitalized projects, with US $137,650,881.

Another similar case is Bytecoin (BCN), which ranks 52nd according to CoinMarketCap. However, when comparing the information on the daily exchange volume, it is observed that the cryptocurrency has barely mobilized US $12,234 in the previous 24 hours, which is equivalent to a little over 1.12 BTC at current market prices.

On the other hand, BitUSD (BITUSD) also shows some especially strange behavior, since its current price went from more than US $22 to US $6 in a few hours. Its volume also went from US $1,000 to over US $22,000 in a matter of hours, between August 11th and 12th. Even so, CoinMarketCap does not seem to revise the information to offer accurate data on this fact to potential investors. It simply reports it, adding the cryptocurrency to the 100 most capitalized, despite this is a market of just 0.34 BTC.

Among the cryptocurrencies with strange information are Clipper Coin (CCCX), ICE ROCK MINING (ROCK2), DPRating (RATING), Birdchain (BIRD), and Touchcon (TOC).

It is better to base decisions regarding investment in cryptocurrencies on the use of other references, which deal with information and data differently. Users can examine the operation of a particular project by seeking information about it directly in a block explorer. Using only CoinMarketCap data is not enough.

By Willmen Blanco

BitMEX Blocks Users in Hong Kong, Bermuda, and Seychelles for Regulatory Reasons

Andres Chavez
-
0
BitMEX Blocks Users in Hong Kong, Bermuda, and Seychelles for Regulatory Reasons

For cryptocurrency exchanges, offering trading services in a specific location may not be possible or convenient due to a myriad of reasons that are, more often than not, of regulatory nature.

Such is the case with the BitMEX exchange, one of the biggest and most prominent internationally. It recently added three new jurisdiction to its list of trade restrictions, which will join several others that were already present.

In fact, it was BitMEX’s parent company, HDR Global Trading Limited (HDR,) the entity that took the decision. The three newly added jurisdictions are Bermuda, Hong Kong and the Seychelles Islands. The latter happens to be BitMEX’s nation of origin, but it also has branches in Hong Kong and Bermuda.

More Jurisdictions on the List

The other jurisdictions that were originally on the trade restrictions list were Cuba, the United States, the Canadian province of Quebec, Crimea and Sevastopol, Syria, Sudan, Iran, and North Korea.

Not coincidentially, the crypto trading platform explained, via a blog post, that the reason behind the restrictions is because of regulations. “The increased involvement of regulators with all the major players in the industry is not only to be expected, it is to be welcomed. It is the mission of good regulators to ensure that honest citizens are not being cheated.”

The statement continued: “For this reason, we have decided to restrict access to BitMEX for users in the jurisdictions in which HDR-affiliated employees and offices are located.” The announcement comes at a time in which BitMEX is undergoing an investigation by the United States’ Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as Bloomberg reported back in July.

No Financial Impacts

The post informed that the change “will have no financial impact on the business and will affect very few people,” while also clarifying that the BitMEX team will be reaching out to those who are affected.

“We believe success in the cryptocurrency space lies in the ability to think long-term, not short-term. And in that long-term view, we believe this course of action affords us the best opportunity to engage regulators in deep, thoughtful, and productive explorations of the risks and opportunities present in the cryptocurrency market,” the company wrote.

Reports indicate that the mentioned investigation is looking for further knowledge on American traders participation in the BitMEX exchange, a platform that is not currently registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Circumventing the Block with Proxies and VPNs

The BitMEX exchange is basing its blocking policies on geolocation, which means that they recognize the visitor’s IP address upon visiting the site. It it is from one of the restricted nations, the platform will not grant access. The situation has caused numerous traders to install and set up circumvention tools such as proxies and VPNs in order to bypass the imposed restrictions.

Recently, the United Kingdom’s ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) maintained its decision to investigate complains about an ad published by BitMEX in a newspaper of national circulation that, according to the watchdog, failed to warn readers and potential investors about the risk of investment in Bitcoin. The ad was published in January, regarding Bitcoin’s tenth anniversary.

By Andres Chavez

1...1,4981,4991,500...1,654Page 1,499 of 1,654