Big banks are launching a blockchain trade platform powered by ‘Bitcoin-like’ Token

The banking industry is hell-bent on taking over the nascent blockchain and cryptocurrency market. A group of financial firms led by UBS Group AG is eyeing blockchain technology for settling cross-border trades worldwide with its own “Bitcoin-like” token.

The 14 firms – including Barclays, Nasdaq, Credit Suisse Group, Banco Santander, ING, and Lloyds Banking Group – have registered a new entity to control the devleopment of the token, dubbed ‘utility settlement coin’ (or USC for short), The Wall Street Journal reports.

The financial giants have poured over $60 million into the new company, called Fnality International. The token, which has been in the works for four years now, will function both as a payment device and a “messenger that carries all the information required to complete a trade,” according to the report.

The new permissioned blockchain system will purportedly make cross-border trades much faster and less risky. “You remove settlement risk, the counterparty risk, the market risk,” UBS investment strategy head Hyder Jaffrey told the WSJ. “All of those risks add up to costs and inefficiencies in the marketplace.”

In addition to the previously mentioned institutions, Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce , State Street Bank & Trust Co., Commerzbank AG, KBC Group NV, Mitsubishi UFG Financial Group Inc., and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp have also agreed to use the USC token.

The new platform is expected to take off within the next 12 months, which corroborates past reports suggesting the platform will be fully operational by 2020.

It remains to be seen if USC is more of a cryptocurrency than JP Morgan’s token, though.

Source: http://tiny.cc/3ioq7y

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CoinBits Allows Users to Earn Passively By Converting, Saving Change in Bitcoin

Erik Finman, an early Bitcoin (BTC) adopter, has launched a crypto platform called CoinBits, which allows investors to passively invest in the flaghship cryptocurrency.

According to TechCrunch, Finman’s new app, CoinBits, intends to democratize access to cryptocurrency by allowing people from all walks of life to make small investments through commonly-used investment and savings strategies. These reportedly include roundups on transactions made via credit or debit card purchases.

The CoinBits app will also support conversion of fiat currency to bitcoin via regular transactions from users’ checking or savings accounts. While CoinBits has been designed to mainly benefit its users, Finman revealed that his own BTC holdings will also grow as more people use the small savings app.

No Commissions on Transactions, 98% of Bitcoins Stored Offline

As explained on CoinBits’ official website, users can invest small amounts such as $10, $25, $50, or $100 through the app’s web-based interface. The savings app also lets users adjust the risk level for their investments.

Notably, the CoinBits app does not charge transaction fees and 98% of users’ bitcoins are kept securely in cold storage (offline).

Explaining how investing in cryptocurrencies can be challenging for some people, due to their highly technical nature, Finman said:

Overall, investing in bitcoin is complicated and can feel almost impossible. CoinBits allows you to put that spare change in bitcoin. For example, if you spend $1.75 on French fries, that remaining 25 cents is invested automatically.

As noted on CoinBits’ website, the company handles withdrawals and users are charged a $0.50 fee for same-day processing. There’s also an option to download the transaction history associated with users’ accounts. This makes it easier for users to manage their finances and track how much they may have gained or lost on their bitcoin investments.

Crypto-Backed Lender Receives $25 Million in Deposits Two Weeks After Launch

As the crypto and blockchain ecosystem continues to evolve, many new startups have been offering different products and services which allow users to earn passively on their digital asset holdings. In March 2019, BlockFi Lending LLC, a New York-based “secure non-bank lender” announced it had received $25 million in cryptocurrency deposits just two weeks after launching its crypto-backed loans packages.

BlockFi’s investment packages allow users to earn interest on their Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) investments.

Source:http://tiny.cc/ps596y

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Australian Civil Servant Faces 10 years for Mining Cryptocurrency on Government Computers

An Australian government employee is appearing in court today after using work equipment to mine cryptocurrency for his own gain.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) allege that the 33 year-old from Killara in New South Wales took advantage of his position as an IT contractor to modify government computer systems to mine cryptocurrency.

The man’s illicit mining operation is said to have earned him more than AU$9,000 ($6,000), according to an AFP announcement.

The unnamed man is facing two charges: unauthorized modification of data to cause impairment, and unauthorized modification of restricted data. These charges carry maximum penalties of 10 and two years imprisonment, respectively.

“Australian taxpayers put their trust in public officials to perform vital roles for our community with the utmost integrity,” Acting Commander Chris Goldsmid. “Any alleged criminal conduct which betrays this trust for personal gain will be investigated and prosecute.”

Indeed, cryptocurrency mining profitability is largely impacted by the cost of electricity used to run mining equipment. With that in mind, the temptation to mine cryptocurrency at someone else’s expense is too enticing for some.

A man in China fell foul to the temptation and used electricity from a local railway network operator to power his Bitcoin mining rigs. He managed to steal around $15,000 worth of electricity.

There was also the case of two Chinese school teachers that were caught mining Ethereum at their place of work. Suspicions were raised when the school’s network became laboriously slow.

Hacks like these are unlikely to go unnoticed forever. All it takes is for someone else to notice an increased electricity bill and begin investigating.

Source: http://bit.ly/2Htvxax

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Bitcoin hit $8,000 again. What's behind the rise

Bitcoin just surged past $8,000 on Tuesday, hitting its highest mark since last July. It tapered off slightly by mid-afternoon, but is still trading at its highest level in nearly a year.

What's going on?

Bullish experts say the strong showing could signal that bitcoin has a future as a worthy investment opportunity. But the currency's volatile and controversial history has prompted plenty of skepticism.

Bitcoin has typically been regarded as risky, said Dan Held, co-founder of Interchange, a company that advises businesses on how to manage their crypto assets. But he said the currency's resurgence might be the first inkling that it holds weight as a "risk off" trade — an investment treated as a safer bet when markets are tumultuous, like bonds or gold. After all, the currency skyrocketed in value Monday when the Dow plunged 617 points, perhaps suggesting that investors turned to bitcoin as a safe haven asset.

"It's bitcoin's moment to shine when people momentarily give up on the government or the banking system," Held added.

But the bitcoin rally didn't end when the markets were plunging. The currency continued to climb early Tuesday even as the major indexes did well, and it held steady for much of the day.

That could have been because Monday's bitcoin trading frenzy spurred additional investor interest, said James Putra, head of product strategy at brokerage firm TradeStation Crypto.
"When the market started to rise, it drew more people in," Putra said. "Larger players started to take bites out of the marketplace; it's a common and familiar approach."

Still, bitcoin has been here before. It hit $20,000 in December 2017 before crashing the next year. Some experts called the downturn a correction after a period of "speculative mania."

The currency also faced accusations of price manipulation: Two academics at the University of Texas at Austin studied the possibility bitcoin had been manipulated and said they found evidence that it had been during its massive 2017 run-up. The shadow of price manipulation continues to loom over bitcoin.

"Manipulation could very well be behind the recent market moves. To act like bitcoin and crypto currency prices are purely driven by supply and demand of little traders ... ignores the specific mechanics of this marketplace," said John Griffin, a finance professor at the University of Texas at Austin and one half of the duo that penned the paper on price manipulation last year.

"It would not be a stretch nor surprising to find that manipulative activity is behind the recent runup when the underlying market mechanics are similar to before," Griffin added.
Griffin isn't the only one with that suspicion.

"I don't think anyone really knows what this is due to," said Tim Massad, former chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, speaking about the latest rally. "But you worry that manipulation could be a contributing factor given the lack of regulation and transparency in this market compared to other markets."

Massad said he lauded the Securities and Exchange Commission for stepping up oversight of cryptocurrency, but added that "you still have gaps in regulation."

Another, simpler explanation for the price rise: It's Blockchain Week, an unofficial holiday for bitcoin. The event, which is also called Consensus 2019, draws in more buyers for bitcoin and other major currencies, according to Lennon Sweeting, the director and head trader of Coinsquare, a Canadian cryptocurrency trading platform.

There's also the fact that bitcoin and blockchain — the underlying technology that acts as a public ledger — have steadily become more mainstream. JPMorgan Chase (JPM), the nation's largest bank, announced a new digital coin earlier this year. JPMorgan and Microsoft (MSFT) recently announced plans to partner and expand on blockchain platforms. And ICE (ICE), the owner of the NYSE, launched a futures exchange for bitcoin and other cryptos.

All of that could make the digital currency and its technology appear more credible to investors. And it gives bitcoin's backers a reason to remain optimistic.

"The $10,000 mark remains firmly in sight over the coming months," said Vaibhav Kadikar, founder and CEO of a decentralized prediction market platform, CloseCross. "And the possibility of surpassing the previous high in the coming half year still remains."

Source: http://tiny.cc/ojkq6y

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Is This Behind The Latest $25 Billion Bitcoin And Crypto Price Rally?

Bitcoin has been soaring over the weekend, boosting most major cryptocurrencies including ethereum, litecoin, Ripple's XRP, EOS, and bitcoin cash—and adding some $25 billion to the overall cryptocurrency market capitalization since Friday morning, taking it over $200 billion of the first time this year.

The bitcoin price is now trading at a little over $7,000 per bitcoin, after beginning the year at under $4,000, taking the total value of all bitcoins over $124 billion and making up 58% of the broader cryptocurrency market cap.

Over the weekend some major bitcoin holders, known as whales, moved a staggering number of the digital tokens, potentially pushing the market higher, with the single biggest whale moving 47,000 bitcoin worth an eye-watering $343 million, according to data from Whale Alert, which tracks big cryptocurrency moves.

Bitcoin whales have traded around 100,000 bitcoin over the weekend, with a total value of some $670 million dollars. Most of the bitcoin whales have been moving their holdings out of major cryptocurrency exchanges, with just a few of the biggest transactions over the weekend involving cryptocurrency wallets moving bitcoin to an exchange.

Large bitcoin and cryptocurrency transactions can prop up the market, with the holders not selling via online exchanges but opting to continue holding the digital tokens instead, known in the bitcoin and cryptocurrency sector as "hodling."

Bitcoin holders are continuing to bet on the asset despite the bitcoin price almost doubling since the beginning of this year, suggesting they see it moving still higher as bitcoin sentiment turns increasingly bullish.

Last week, analysts from investment bank Canaccord Genuity said they expect bitcoin to rally hard over the next 24 months, potentially returning to its late 2017 highs due to next year's halving event, where the number of bitcoins rewarded to miners will be cut by 50%.

The last week has been a difficult one for the bitcoin and cryptocurrency sector, however, despite the broad price rally.

Bitcoin climbed even as the market processed the news $40 million of bitcoin (some 7,000 of the digital tokens) were stolen from the Malta-based Binance exchange, the world's largest bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange by volume, and Binance's widely-respected chief executive Changpeng Zhao caused controversy by suggesting he could "re-organize" the bitcoin blockchain to recover the funds.

Meanwhile, the bitcoin and cryptocurrency industry is gearing up for one of the biggest events in the cryptocurrency calendar starting today—Blockchain Week NYC and CoinDesk’s Consensus 2019 event, running all week out of the New York Hilton Midtown.

This year headline speakers include FedEx’s Fred Smith, Fidelity’s Abigail Johnson, Twitter and Square’s Jack Dorsey, chairman of the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission, Jay Clayton, and U.S. presidential hopeful, Andrew Yang.

Source: http://tiny.cc/73km6y

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