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Showing posts from March, 2019

Crypto Industry Execs: This Bitcoin Bear Market Is The Best Yet

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 As much as some like to sugarcoat it, the crypto market has lost 85% of its value since the jaw-dropping early-2018 peak. This collapse, which pushed Bitcoin from $20,000 to $4,000, has effectively stopped the cryptocurrency gravy train dead in its tracks. Gone are the days that “blockchain” was a popular word at the dinner table, as mainstream media outlets, the CNBC Fast Money segment, in particular, have slowed their coverage to a near-halt. More likely than not, retail investors, who know think Bitcoin is nothing but a  distant memory , en-masse have removed CoinMarketCap from their bookmarks list, purged their Coinbase and Binance accounts, and unfollowed crypto’s most eccentric commentators on Twitter. But, some argue that this industry is stronger than ever. Far From The Worst Bitcoin Bear Market At Token2049 — Hong Kong’s premier crypto event — NewsBTC was lucky enough to sit down with some of the industry’s leading insiders and executives. In the handful of int

Starbucks Perks Up The Crypto Market!

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The crypto market never fails to surprise, yesterday being a prime example. After Monday’s sell-off,  Bitcoin ’s recent advance over $4,000 and Ethereum ’s above $160 seemed a distant memory. Technical analysts have been scrambling to find support levels rather than areas of resistance.  Against this background, Tuesday saw a sea of green and the early day rally extend into U.S. hours. BTC rallied from $3,700 to $3,870 and ETH from $124.75 to $138.90. In fact, almost anywhere you look there were gains.  Why the sudden change of sentiment? From a technical perspective, it seems that Binance  Coin (BNB) has led the way and was in fact rallying when all else was heading south. The successful launch of its Binance Launchpad has seen two very successful ICOs which has the market thinking BNB could mimic the price action of ETH during the height of ICOs in late 2017 and early 2018. Also, there was some  fundamental news. Starbucks announced a significant stake in the upcoming

Bahrain Could Squeeze India to Re-Open its Crypto Market and Legalize Bitcoin !

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As per the request of the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central banking institution, local banks have been disallowed from dealing with crypto businesses such as Bitcoin exchanges since 2018. With no immediate plans of the Supreme Court of India to reverse the decision of the country’s central bank, crypto companies have been pushed out of the local market. Consequently, Bitcoin investors have lost access to fiat-enabled exchanges and have resorted to peer-to-peer exchanges to convert cryptocurrencies, which could be impractical and unsafe, especially for face-to-face deals. However, a recent decision of the government of Bahrain to encourage cryptocurrency firms in India to come into the country and operate their businesses with proper resources could pressure India to potentially legalize and open its cryptocurrency market in the future. Bahrain is Putting the Pressure on India in Crypto On March 3, The Economic Times reported that Bahrain has invited

Russia Said it Will Regulate Crypto 3 Times in the Past 2 Years, Could it Work This Time?

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 Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a fresh order to Russia’s government demanding that they draft and approve a regulatory framework for the crypto industry. Although this seems like a positive development for the industry , similar orders have been issued on multiple occasions over the past few years to no avail, which calls into question the clout that these orders truly hold within the Russian government. A Brief History of Russia’s Rocky Relationship with Crypto Regulation Russia has taken a confusing position on cryptocurrency in the past, as there have been multiple conflicting statement from different regulatory and government officials regarding the status of crypto as a legal form of currency. Despite this, it appears that the country’s hesitance to accept crypto in its current state stems from fear regarding the unregulated nature of the nascent industry, as there have been multiple occasions over the past few years where Putin, or other