Binance Blocks Privacy Crypto Trading in France, Italy, Poland, and Spain

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Twelve privacy coins will be affected, including Decred, Dash, Zcash, Horizen, PIVX, Navcoin, Secret, Verge, Firo, Beam, Monero, and MobileCoin.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has decided to remove privacy coins in certain countries. The measure will enter into force on June 26, explicitly affecting France, Italy, Poland, and Spain. As a result, twelve coins will no longer be available for trading on the Binance platform in the mentioned countries.

Binance has sent emails to its clients in France, Spain, Italy, and Poland, notifying them of the exchange’s decision to remove privacy coins from the marketplace. In the email sent, Binance mentioned that they were unable to offer these privacy-enhanced cryptocurrencies in accordance with local regulatory requirements.

Privacy Crypto Coins Blocked in Some Countries

Privacy coins belong to a specific category of cryptocurrencies that aim to improve the privacy of transactions through the use of technologies such as zero-knowledge proofs. These technologies effectively hide transaction details, making it difficult to trace and identify the sender, recipient, and transaction amounts.

By implementing such measures, privacy coins give users greater anonymity and make it more difficult for outside parties to track and control their transactions. A Binance representative stated the following:

“While our goal is to support as many quality projects as possible, we must comply with local laws and regulations regarding the trading of privacy coins, to ensure that we are able to continue to serve as many users as we can.”

Prominent privacy coins recently witnessed a 3.2% decline in value compared to the US dollar. The collective market capitalization of all existing privacy coins amounts to approximately $5.73 billion. Monero (XMR) holds the first position among these coins.

EU Opposes Cryptocurrencies and Privacy-Based Tools

The European Union has been taking steps to address the money laundering risks linked to anonymous cryptocurrency transactions. In response to these concerns, the EU is contemplating implementing new regulations that could ban privacy coins.

Today, the European Banking Authority (EBA) released a guidance draft advising cryptocurrency firms to keep an eye out for customers engaging in transactions involving privacy coins. The goal is to help these companies identify possible instances of money laundering activities.

The global stance on privacy-oriented cryptocurrencies and other tools designed to improve cryptocurrency privacy has been marked by significant resistance from governments around the world. Concerns about possible money laundering activities and terrorist financing have been key factors driving this opposition.

For example, in September 2022, a major cryptocurrency exchange, Huobi, stopped supporting seven privacy coins, including Monero. Increasing regulatory pressures prompted this move.

Similarly, authorities in the United States previously imposed sanctions for the use of a cryptocurrency mixer, Tornado Cash, due to concerns about its alleged ability to allow criminals to launder funds.

Cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea and other Asian countries have also removed major privacy coins due to regulatory concerns. This trend emerged in Japan in 2018 and spread across the region in 2019.

To conclude, it should be noted that privacy coins have often gotten the cold shoulder from regulators because they do not allow you to view transaction details and wallet balances.

While privacy coins protect users from surveillance, their anonymity also attracts malicious actors. Critics argue that these cryptocurrencies enable money laundering, terrorist financing, and other illegal activities.

By Audy Castaneda

Litecoin ($LTC) Network Activity and Price Surge Ahead of its Halving, Following Historical Pattern

The Litecoin network has soared this month. As halving (halving) approaches, the adoption of the currency is increasing. Addresses have also continued to skyrocket. This further reinforces the sentiment that the market is bullish primarily on Litecoin, thanks to the upcoming halving.

According to InTheBlock, a market intelligence platform, Litecoin is closing out May on a strong note. The network appears to have outperformed other rival networks, as new addresses have soared to a whopping 8.5 million.

Litecoin ($LTC) network activity increased as August approached, as the cryptocurrency often referred to as the silver to Bitcoin’s gold is set to experience its third halving event at that time. The event will reduce the per-block reward from the current 12.5 Litecoin (LTC) to just 6.25 LTC, a move that history suggests could spur an increase in demand and thus a potential increase in price.

In the run-up to the halving, which is scheduled for August 10, the Litecoin price has risen to $92, reflecting a string of solid gains. However, the price increase is just one facet of the excitement surrounding the upcoming event. Several key metrics on the blockchain also point to a healthy and vibrant Litecoin crimson.

Data from IntoTheBlock, a leading blockchain analytics company, indicates that Litecoin purple activity has been robust. The overall number of Litecoin addresses with balance has seen a substantial increase since the end of April, reaching nearly 8.5 million.

In addition, the number of new and active crimson addresses has been hovering around all-time highs set earlier this year, and there was even a brief period where new Litecoin address creation surpassed Bitcoin.

Crypto analytics platform Santiment has noted that the increased volume on the blockchain could be a strong indicator of institutional interest in Litecoin, particularly in light of the upcoming halving event. CoinShares’ latest digital asset fund flows report has shown that while crypto funds lost millions, LTC and XRP attracted investors.

The firm also highlights an increase in unique addresses interacting on the Litecoin network, a trend that could be interpreted as users accumulating Litecoin before the halving.

The halving event also has a noticeable effect on the Litecoin derivatives market. As reported by CryptoGlobe, LTC futures derivatives contracts have seen open interest exceeding $420 million, marking an impressive 22% growth since the beginning of the year.

Open interest refers to the number of outstanding derivative contracts. According to data analyzed by preferred cryptocurrency analyst Rekt Money, Litecoin “tends to rally quite strongly before halving,” with the cryptocurrency up 820% after bottoming 122 days before its first halving, and rising 550 % after bottoming 243 later. of its second halving.

Historically, the cryptocurrency rallied the most after its halving event. After its first halving, LTC increased by 12 400 %, while after its second halving, it increased by 1573 %.

Over the past month, Litecoin, a cryptocurrency often referred to as the silver to Bitcoin’s gold, has seen a steady climb, exhibiting nearly 7% growth and increasing in value from $86 to $92.

By Marina Meza

Bitcoin Miners Dodged a new Tax. Next Time they May not Be so Lucky

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Bitcoin miners appear to have dodged a bullet, as the congressional debt ceiling bill does not include a hefty tax on cryptocurrencies that had been proposed by the White House. But investors should be wary of future budget battles. Such proposals have a habit of rising from the ashes.

Over the weekend, lawmakers released the text of a bill that would raise the debt ceiling for two years and add limits on federal spending. Not included in the draft was a provision, proposed earlier by the White House, that would have imposed a special tax on cryptocurrencies equal to 30% of the cost of the electricity they use.

Digital Asset Mining Electrical Power Tax (DAME)

The White House had argued that the so-called Digital Asset Mining Electrical power (DAME) tax would offset the economic and environmental costs of cryptocurrency mining. Bitcoin miners vehemently opposed it.

Such a tax would have severely cut into the profits of miners like Marathon Electronic Holdings (ticker: MARA) and Riot Platforms (RIOT), whose shares are up 181% and 267% this year, respectively, on the back of Bitcoin’s rebound.

Some political analysts say that it’s premature to declare an outright victory,  as such proposals tend to rear their heads whenever Congress seeks funds to pay for new bills.

BTIG policy research director Isaac Boltansky indicates that any suggestion that the industry is safe from future tax efforts just because the DAME tax was excluded from the debt ceiling deal is disconnected from reality. He noted that the tax would have raised about $3.5 billion over 10 years.

Support for Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency industry has traditionally not fallen cleanly along partisan lines. Both Republicans and Democrats have in the past expressed support for encouraging an industry they see as having the potential to be a major job creator.

However, since last year’s cryptocurrency collapse, more Democrats have attacked the digital asset industry, and this month President Joe Biden even criticized Republicans for taking a stance on the debt ceiling that he said “protects wealthy tax dodgers and cryptocurrency traders.”

Cryptocurrency traders, which operate huge energy-intensive server farms, have been one of the most frequent targets of Democrats, who cite environmental concerns. In New York, lawmakers passed a partial ban on cryptocurrency mining. Even in Republican-controlled Texas, Bitcoin miners have been fighting lately against a bill that would limit their participation in programs that pay them to shut down during periods of high electricity demand.

Fred Thiel, CEO of Marathon, said in a statement to Barron’s that targeting a specific type of energy use in an attempt to save energy is an invasion of people’s right to choose how they use the energy they pay for. He argued that the proposed tax would not have benefited the environment or the energy grid.

This time, miners benefited from Republicans’ insistence that a debt ceiling bill not include new taxes, Boltansky says, but that won’t necessarily be the case in the battles to come.

Boltansky stated that once an item becomes part of the legislative menu, it tends to stay in the policy conversation.

By Marina Meza

Web3 Games Could Boost Mass Cryptocurrency Adoption

Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon, estimates that Web3 games will become a catalyst for mass adoption of cryptocurrencies in the coming years.

In an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session held on Reddit, Sandeep Nailwal, one of the co-founders of the scalability network Polygon Network, spoke about the role that Web3 games will play in bringing cryptocurrency to the masses.

According to Nailwal, speculation in the crypto market has been both a boon and a bane for the global expansion of cryptocurrencies, in that it attracts high-risk investors and drives innovation, while generating mistrust and volatility.

Hope is not entirely lost, however, as Nailwal sees Web3 gaming as a real use case for Blockchain technology with the potential to drive mass adoption of cryptocurrency for years to come.

Nailwal made the remarks while answering a question about genuine Blockchain use cases during the AMA session.

Web3 Games, Cryptocurrencies Greatest Opportunity

Last year, Web3 games hosted an average of 1.2 million players, according to data from DappRadar. Although this number is small compared to the number of players in the traditional video game industry, which is close to 40% of the world’s population, the Blockchain and Web3 offer new opportunities and possibilities for gamers.

According to Nailwal, it has spurred the creation of a large number of new projects and brought in more investors. In 2022 there was close to $2 billion in funding for Web3 games, the Polygon Network co-founder noted.

The investors’ interest reflects the potential of Web3 games, which can attract a large number of new users to the crypto ecosystem, by allowing them to create, own and monetize their own digital assets. Thus, Web3 games could become one of the biggest drivers of cryptocurrency usage and adoption worldwide.

Polygon Expands its Vision toward Chain Games

Nailwal used the AMA to highlight how the vision of the Polygon Network has changed. Beyond being a solution to increase the scalability of Ethereum, Polygon has become an inclusive and sustainable ecosystem of Blockchain solutions.

Allied with Immutable, Polygon will become a space enabled to build games faster, easier and less risky. The results of the alliance between Polygon Network and Immutable will begin to be seen in the next 6 to 18 months, when some of the top-of-the-line Web3 games are released to the market. “It would be very interesting to see if some of them are able to crack the cryptocode,” said the Polygon co-founder.

More Opportunities for Players

Nailwal has a broad vision for the future of Web3 gaming. According to him, these games not only offer a more immersive and decentralized gaming experience to gaming communities, but also have the potential to create new opportunities to improve the economic and social conditions of players.

All in all, t is clear that the Blockchain gaming industry is still in its infancy, and there is still a long way to go before the full power of Blockchain technology is appreciated.

To reap the benefits of Web3 games, developers must be willing to create compelling games that put the player experience first. At the same time, gamers must also be willing to trust Blockchain technology, and jump into a new way of gaming.

Can Web3 games drive mass adoption, or will the greatness of the games be lost in the Web3 hype? Only time will tell.

By Audy Castaneda

Doge Price to Face a Period of High Volatility

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According to analysts, the Doge price is set to face a period of instability and volatility in the short term.

According to analysts from the CoinDesk portal, the Doge cryptocurrency will face strong volatility in its price in a short timeframe. The current calm situation will suffer a shock that can take the currency higher or lower in a significant way.

The experts of the aforementioned portal maintain that this future behavior is suggested by the Bollinger Bandwidth (BBW) indicator, which is used to measure the volatility of an asset through a band of three lines on the chart.

Therefore, the meme coin could become a much more extreme bet in a short time than it already is. That implies that placing money in that crypto could generate profits or losses, in either case, extreme.

Doge Price Prediction

So far this year, the Doge price has behaved strangely, which can be related to the stability of its price. In fact, the coin’s performance is comparatively lower than that of large coins like BTC.

However, the aforementioned portal considers that this calm value situation could be the prelude to volatility. “The indicator illustrates periods of variable volatility relative to price swings and is calculated by dividing the spread between Bollinger bands by the price’s 20-day simple moving average (SMA),” explains the technical analysis.

Meanwhile, the indicator lines are placed above and below the 20-day SMA of the prices. If the broad bands are showing wide, this becomes a sign that the uptrend or downtrend is coming to an end.

On the other hand, if the bandwidth is low, then you are on the verge of a strong move in either direction. The latter seems to be the case with the Doge price, which means that the current calm state is drawing to a close.

Dogecoin Current Status

According to TradingView’s Doge price chart, the bands have been narrowing in recent days. Thus, the bandwidth is pushed towards 0.06, the lowest since 2019.

Taking that state into consideration, Doge’s trend could be one of high volatility soon. Consequently, investors could see a strong trend in the value, either bullish or bearish. For investors, of course, this can translate into a high degree of danger to their funds.

It should be taken into consideration that investors must take the necessary precautions. The first thing to keep in mind is that they must be prepared to lose all the funds invested, that is, have a high risk tolerance. The latter also suggests a high possibility of large returns.

The Doge price lends itself to both, according to this analysis carried out by the CoinDesk portal. It is worth keeping in mind that the digital currency market tends to be treacherous to analysis, and that what can be considered a safe trend at one moment changes radically the next.

Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile assets due to low capitalization and trading volume. That leads to the fact that the price can be very generous or a cruel executioner alternately and from one moment to the next.

By Audy Castaneda

Tron (TRX) Price Analysis: Falls Supported Near $0.075

The TRON price started a fresh rise above $0.0720 against the US Dollar, similar to Bitcoin. TRX price could rise further if it clears the $0.0780 resistance.

The Tron price started a fresh rise above the $0.0720 level against the US Dollar. TRX price is now trading below $0.0780 and the 55 simple moving average (4-hours). A major uptrend line is forming with support near $0.0752 on the 4-hours chart (data feed via Kraken). The pair could continue to rise if it breaks out of the $0.0780 resistance zone.

Tron Price Analysis

In the past few days, the Tron price started a steady rise from the $0.0712 support zone against the US Dollar. It remained well-bid and was able to rally above the $0.0755 zone.

It traded above the $0.0780 and $0.0788 levels to move further into a positive zone. Finally, the bears appeared near the $0.080 level. A high is formed near $0.0798 and the price is now correcting the gains. There was a move below the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level of the rising wave from the $0.0669 low to $0.0798 high.

It is trading below $0.0780 and the 55 simple moving average (4-hours). On the upside, TRX is facing resistance near the $0.0770 level. The next major resistance is near the $0.078 level.

A close above $0.078 could send the price looking towards the $0.0800 resistance zone. More gains could send TRX price to $0.0825, above which the price could even rally to $0.085. On the downside, the initial support is near the $0.0752 level.

There is also a major uptrend line forming with support near $0.0752 on the 4-hours chart. The next major support is now forming near $0.0718 or the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level of the ascending wave from the $0.0669 low to $0.0798 high.

If there is a break below the $0.0718 support, the price could revisit the $0.0700 support. Any further losses could require a move towards the $0.0665 area in the near term.

The TRX price is now trading below $0.0780 and the 55 simple moving average (4-hours). Overall, the price could continue to rise if it breaks out of the $0.0780 resistance zone.

Technical Indicators

4 hours MACD – The MACD for TRX/USD is now gaining momentum in the bearish zone.

4 hours RSI – The RSI for TRX/USD is below the 50 level.

Key support levels: $0.0752 and $0.0718.

Key resistance levels: $0.0780, $0.080, and $0.0825.

According to CryptoPredictions, the TRX Price is forecasted for today (05.31.2023) to be in the $0.065057592354565 – $0.095672929933184 price range. TRON is predicted to end today at $0.076538343946547.

TRON started in May 2023 at $0.067494794309736 and is predicted to finish the month at $0.054584191645051. During May, the maximum forecasted TRX price is $0.10922287561379 and the minimum price is $0.054584191645051.

Following this portal’s forecast, TRON is predicted to start in June 2023 at $0.07488913854695 and finish the month at $0.08025996738947. During June, the maximum forecasted TRX price is $0.1090406793054 and the minimum price is $0.074147661927674.

By Audy Castaneda