Bitcoin Magician

5 Altcoins with Major Events the week of April 1, 2018 (Gains Likely to Beat Bitcoin Returns!) This past week has seen Bitcoin and many altcoins fluctuate dramatically. These significant fluctuations can be profited off of by trading or increasing one’s position in the underlying crypto. The upcoming week has major events for five cryptocurrencies: PRL, UKG, EOS, PKB, and BRD. The Market Conditions In December of 2017, Bitcoin was pushing the $20,000 mark with many experts predicting a run much higher. The bull market turned bear and BTC is currently priced at approximately $7,000 per coin. This sixty plus percent retraction has led altcoins to retract even further. Bitcoin’s dominance in the past three months has increased as the total market cap of all cryptos has decreased. BTC now makes up a greater share (percentage wise) of the total crypto markets than it did in December, when its price was 200% higher. Markets in turmoil usually scare investors away. However, the savvy invest

Thai Finance Ministry Releases Final Version Of Cryptocurrency Tax Framework The Thai Finance Minister has announced the final expected version of the crypto tax framework. Thailand’s awaited tax framework for cryptocurrencies has been announced this week by the Thai Finance Minister, local news outlet Nikkei Asian Review reported Friday, March 30. Apisak Tantivorawong reported during a March 27 cabinet meeting that crypto trades will be taxed with a 7 percent value added tax (VAT), and returns taxed with a 15 percent capital gains tax. The first draft of the digital asset regulations , released March 14, showed that the expected tax ceiling for the digital gains crypto tax in Thailand was 15 percent. The previous uncertainty in Thailand surrounding crypto regulations, particularly in regards to Initial Coin Offerings (ICO), had caused the Thai Digital Asset Exchange (TDAX) to pause ICOs in February in order to wait for the Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission’s (Thai S

Zeroedge.Bet Casino Launched Its Pre-ICO Round 2 and Offers 58% Bonus for a Very Limited Time! March 31st – A unique blockchain based gambling platform Zerocoin.bet is launching their Pre-ICO part 2. The presale event will last until April 27th, 2018 or until the hard cap is reached which is set at only 1500 ETH. During the presale, investors will be able to purchase ZERO tokens with a 58% bonus for a very limited time. ZERO token owners will be able to use it on the ZeroEdge.Bet platform to play 0% house edge games such as Blackjack, Video Poker and many others. ZERO tokens will also be used to place bets on the platform’s decentralized sports betting exchange which is expected to be launched in Q4,2018. Project’s development roadmap also includes a poker room and an open-source platform for building and operating your own customized games for which ZERO tokens will be required. One thing that really makes ZeroEdge.Bet stand out from other gambling-related ICO’s is their team whic

Major Russian Bank Looks To Pilot Crypto Transactions In Switzerland Deputy Chairman of the Board at Gazprombank says bank to start pilot crypto transactions in Switzerland Major Russian state-owned bank Gazprombank will be conducting pilot cryptocurrency transactions in Switzerland , local news outlet Vedomosti reported March 29. According to Aleksandr Sobol, the Deputy Chairman of the Board at Gazprombank, Switzerland was chosen due to the more liberal crypto legislation in the country. Sobol said that “some kind of pilots” will “of course” take place, according to Vedomosti: “This will not be on a grand scale, but for ourselves. This is a demand from the sides of our large private clients for such amenities. Therefore we are now looking at how we can organize this service for them.” As yet it has not been decided if future crypto services will be offered to customers or conducted for Gazprombank’s own investment; Sobol said the bank is “trying to follow the situation activ

Crypto Investors in Thailand Will Get Taxed After the Bank of Thailand ordered the country’s financial institutions to steer clear of cryptocurrency, its military government has now advised that cryptocurrency taxes are on the cards. Thailand has previously been hesitant to take decisive action against cryptocurrencies. However, 2018 has seen this on-the-fence stance change. February saw the country’s financial institutions put an end to offering crypto-related services , while earlier this month saw authorities suggest that virtual currencies would soon be subjected to tax regulations. Thailand to Issue Crypto Tax According to Nikkei Asian Review , the latter is definitely happening. Thailand’s Finance Minister, Apisak Tantivorawong, made the announcement on the 27th of March. Authorities cite the prevention of money laundering, tax evasion, and aiding in criminal activities as the reasons for the introduction of these cryptocurrency taxes. Crypto investors will be liable to pay

Double-Bottom? ‘Substantial Funds’ Waiting for Crypto Collapse to Complete The cryptocurrency market has entered a full-fledged state of depression, leaving many long-time investors frustrated and many first-time investors downright furious. However, the worst is almost certainly over. A hard fall Many uneducated cryptocurrency investors lump the major market players — Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), and possibly Bitcoin Cash (BCH) — into the same category, even though there are fundamental and core differences between these cryptocurrencies. That group, according to Linda Butcher, co-founder of Rewards Blockchain LTD., is often believed to be on the verge of collapse . However, for the savvy, tuned-in investor who pays attention to more than just the ignorant mainstream media outlets and videos from view-hungry YouTubers, it’s fairly evident the said collapse has already happened. Image courtesy of CoinMarketCap.com At press time, Bitcoin is down 19

Bitcoin is Making Currency Manipulation Difficult for Central Banks Bitcoin was largely created as a means of undermining the control of governments and traditional financial institutions. Now, the dominant cryptocurrency by market capitalization is making it difficult for governments and central banks to manipulate their own fiat currencies. Losing Their Grip Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have made it easier than ever to move money across borders — and governments the world over aren’t too happy about it. As noted by The Telegraph, the ability for Bitcoin to circumvent government-imposed economic restrictions “could have significant implications across the world, upending currency wars, hampering efforts to manage crises and challenging traditional ideas of economic development – all of which frequently include restrictions on taking money abroad.” Nowhere is this fact more immediately evident than in Venezuela’s launch of its own state-issued cryptocurrency, Petro. US Pres

FBI Publishes PSA About Tech Support Fraud Targeting Cryptocurrency Holders FBI releases PSA about increasing frequency of tech support fraud, now targeting cryptocurrency investors. The FBI ’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has published a public service announcement on March 28 warning about the prevalence of scammers posing as tech support for a variety of industries, including the cryptocurrency sector. The announcement defines tech support fraud as a “criminal claiming to provide customer, security, or technical support in an effort to defraud unwitting individuals,” and references the increasing frequency of this type of fraud leading to criminals“pos[ing] as government agents, even offering to recover supposed losses related to tech support fraud schemes or to request financial assistance with ‘apprehending’ criminals.” Tech support fraud, which can occur through the telephone, search engines, pop-ups, locked screens, and phishing emails, is now also being perpetrate

Japan: Operator Of GMO Exchange Promises To Improve Data Security After Regulator Order Japanese crypto exchange operator creates new group to advise on increased security protection measures for customers’ data GMO Internet, the operator of Japanese crypto exchange GMO Coin, has announced the establishment of a “Group Information Security Audit Office” in order to develop stronger security measures to protect customer information, according to a March 30 press release . GMO Coin was one of the crypto exchanges that was sent a business improvement order by Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) after a series of on-site inspections prompted by the January hack of crypto exchange Coincheck . GMO Internet’s new group, run by “knowledgeable security expert” Takeshi Miyazaki, will include an external advisor on security as well. The establishment of this group aims to “protect important customer information from increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks by our highly secured counte

Crypto Markets Experience Slight Uptick After Week Of Lows Bitcoin and Ethereum have climbed back over $7,000 and $400 respectively, all top ten coins in the green after a week of falling prices. The crypto markets are seeing a slight upward trend Saturday, March 31, after hitting monthly lows this week , according to data from Coin360 . Bitcoin (BTC) is above $7,000 again, trading for around $7,140 and up over 2 percent over a 24 hour period to press time. BTC saw a 24 hr low today of $6,623, and is currently trading 8 percent higher. Ethereum (ETH) is also in the green, up almost 3 percent over a 24 hour period and trading at around $406 by press time, up from a 24-hour low of $371.  All of the top ten coins listed on CoinMarketCap are showing positive gains, with Stellar (XLM) showing the most growth, over 13.5 percent on the day, trading at an average of $0.21 at press time. Of the top ten, Neo is showing the least growth on the day, still green, but up only 0.16 perce

Australia’s Biggest Bank: No to Bitcoin, Yes to Mafia Money Laundering Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has come under fire after an investigation accused it of helping the Italian mafia launder money. Bank Suspends Corrupt Workers After Press ‘Questions’ CBA, the largest Australian listed company on the Australian Securities Exchange and the biggest bank in the southern hemisphere, made the headlines last month for blocking  cryptocurrency access for clients due to their “unregulated” nature. Now local media reports it has fired two employees who did private deals with Calabrian kingpin Rocco Arico in 2015. As The Age reports , the scam involved three major Australian banks, with Rocco now serving a 14-year jail term for a string of offenses. After the publication “asked questions” about CBA’s involvement, the institution fired two employees who are the subject of a transcript of an interview with Rocco, in which he signaled they would engage in corrupt activities for his bene

Company Enables Artists to Sell Unlimited Concert Tickets by Using Blockchain-Powered VR sponsored The company allows artists to sell unlimited ‘virtual’ tickets for fans to view the concert through a headset, removing the lost potential revenue on tickets available to be sold. Millions of tickets are sold yearly for musiс fans to see artists of all calibers, from small venues to large arena concerts. However it is not physically possible for every fan to be able to see their favorite artist; the more popular they are, the more people miss out, as venues quickly reach capacity. Yet virtual reality company CEEK are looking to change this and tackle the issue of demand outstripping supply in live music. Viewing the concert through a headset According to CEEK, by allowing artists to sell unlimited ‘virtual’ tickets for fans to view the concert through a headset, the company have removed the upper limit (and therefore lost potential revenue) on tickets available to be sold. They are a

Nvidia CEO Believes Cryptocurrency Will Be Core Business for Company The CEO believes the need for GPU processors in the industry will help the company’s growth in the future. However, he claims that it will not be an immediate driver for profits just yet. Nvidia has been involved in cryptocurrency mining recently, a move which has seen its stock options decrease. However, despite the move, the CEO and founder of the company, Jensen Huang doesn’t see the cryptocurrency craze ending anytime soon. Speaking to Mad Money TV show host, Jim Cramer, the CEO mentioned that cryptocurrency was here to stay. The industry allowed people to work with something that would not give them any friction. It also allowed users to transfer and change at low costs, Huang noted, which allowed the industry to stand the test of time. Huang and his company have been involved in everything tech related now including the manufacture and production of some high powered graphics processing units. The chip maker

Could Ford Enable Drivers to Pay in Crypto for Freedom of the Fast Lane? A patent application filed by Ford describes a Cooperatively Managed Merge and Pass (CMMP) system that would allow drivers needing to travel quickly to use less congested lanes, and travel more freely, by paying other drivers in cryptocurrency. Other road users would move to slower moving lanes and allow a paying driver to merge or pass. Vehicle-to-Vehicle Cooperation to Marshal Traffic Primarily, the patent , filed on September 16th, 2016, describes a system for “vehicle-to-vehicle cooperation to marshal traffic” whereby compatible vehicles communicate electronically to identify traffic “cataracts”.  The “cooperative adaptive cruise control module”, once it has identified a traffic issue, can then coordinate with other cooperative vehicles to form a “platoon” which moves at a constant speed to effectively navigate the traffic cataract or congestion. Compatible vehicles would be equipped with a “vehicle-to-vehic

Bitcoin Is Ideal for Countries Adopting a Passive Monetary Policy One of Bitcoin’s inherent virtues is being inflation-resistant. This unique feature might be essential to help countries interested in adopting a passive monetary policy. Bitcoin Controls the Inflation Rate Only 21 million bitcoins will ever be mined. Therefore, Bitcoin is illiquid. However, Satoshi Nakamoto, purportedly the creator of Bitcoin, intentionally established this lack of liquidity to make the cryptocurrency inflation-resistant and to incentivize Bitcoin miners. According to Professor Max Raskin, Bitcoin’s pre-commitment to an inflation rate that halves every four years makes the cryptocurrency an ideal model for governments choosing to adopt a passive monetary policy. Raskin writes in the Wall Street Journal, Countries interested in adopting a passive monetary policy could use bitcoin as a model. Such a policy would have some of the benefits of passive investing. I have an op-ed out in the WSJ today o

MailChimp Begins Shutting Down Cryptocurrency and ICO-related Accounts Popular email service MailChimp appears to be drinking the anti-crypto kool-aid and has reportingly begun shutting down cryptocurrency and ICO related accounts.  MailChimp: No Crypto, Blockchain, or ICOs Allowed Despite the stomach-churning roller coaster ride that has been the cryptocurrency market of late, the number of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) continues to rise. It seems like we hear about a new blockchain project or ICO on a daily basis and those projects rely on social media platforms and other tools – including email marketing tools like MailChimp – in order to expand their user base and promote their services. According to Gizmodo article, MailChimp – one of the top five email marketing platforms according to Inc.com – has begun shutting down the accounts of websites that use their service for cryptocurrency and ICO promotions. The decision has left these projects scrambling to find alternate service

‘Bitcoin Is Dead’ Apparently, Bitcoin is dead. That is what the world’s media have been telling us for as long as the crypto has been alive. In fact, the number of “Bitcoin is dead” articles is over 250, and counting. The doomsayers have been wrong time and again. Back in 2010 – just a year after the original crypto was released as open-source software – Tim Harford, the Financial Times columnist known as ‘The Undercover Economist’, discussed “why Bitcoin can’t be a currency”. At the time, one Bitcoin was worth $0.23. The next year, with Bitcoin valued at $7.80, Gizmodo Australia said: “Bitcoin is dying.” Then, in June 2013, with the crypto priced at $111, NYMag wrote: “Bitcoin sees the grim reaper.” By September 2017 Bitcoin’s price had built to $4,591, yet the naysayers still vented their gloomy opinions. Seeking Alpha wrote about “the death of Bitcoin” and was negative about the future of all cryptos. Shortly afterward, Bitcoin exploded, reaching a high point of $19,499 on Dece

AirPod’s APOD Token Carries 3 Major Benefits AirPod has established its own cryptocurrency. Called APOD, the project’s tokens will soon begin circulating between the AirPod and its customers — effectively creating one internal economy. Customers will be encouraged to utilize APOD tokens when renting pods for a substantial discount, and companies will be motivated to purchase APOD tokens for their employees who need to travel frequently. Powered by APOD APOD token distribution will be split into two phases: the pre-sale and the crowdsale. 200 million APOD tokens will be available for purchase at only $0.10 per token, and payment will be accepted in Ethereum tokens (ETH). There will be a soft cap set at $2.7 million and a hard cap set at $20 million. During the pre-sale phase, 140 million APOD tokens will be made available for purchase – with a minimum investment of 1 ETH and a maximum investment of 300 ETH. A 30 percent bonus will be applied during this phase until the soft cap of $2.

Cisco Developing Confidential Communications Via Blockchain In Patent Filing IT giant Cisco has filed a patent for a Blockchain-based confidential group messaging system, aimed at ensuring more secure communication. Cisco , a worldwide leader in IT and networking, is developing a method of confidential group communications based on Blockchain technology, according to a patent application released by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) March 29. In the application, the company describes the way Blockchain can ensure more confidential and secure group messaging, file sharing, and tracking of membership history. The technology in the patent intends to address common challenges faced by ad hoc messaging groups: “How group membership is established, communicated, updated, and secured from unauthorized tampering are common problems for which a construct is not available that can be effective in the context of dynamic, decentralized, and self-organizing group.”  “This method

South Korea: Insurance Company Denies Hacked Crypto Exchange’s Damages Claim The twice-hacked Bitcoin exchange Youbit has reported that their insurance claim for $2.8 mln has been denied Yapian Corp., the operator of twice-hacked crypto exchange Youbit, has been denied their insurance claim of $2.8 mln for last December’s hack of an alleged 17 percent of their assets, the Wall Street Journal reported March 29. The mid-December security breach of South Korean Bitcoin (BTC) exchange Youbit led the company to file for bankruptcy, with 75 percent of customers’ holdings available for withdrawal and the rest on hold until the end of the bankruptcy proceedings. The hack has been attributed to North Korean hackers , along with several other hacks of South Korean crypto exchanges. Youbit, which formerly went by the name Yapizon, was also hacked in April of last year. A Yapian press release from March 28 says that DB Insurance, Yapian’s insurance provider, denied the payout due to what

Crypto Start-Up Allows Businesses To Buy Ad Space Using Ether, Pixel By Pixel sponsored A start-up wants to create a rich patchwork of brands, products and personalities in an image that is seen by millions of people. A new project is aiming to create a “billion-dollar picture” by launching a cryptocurrency-powered advertising space that is open to everyone. CryptoPicture is a 1,000 pixel by 1,000 pixel image where businesses and individuals can purchase a block to publicize themselves – personalizing it with a logo and a link to their website. Over time, the company aims to amass a rich patchwork of brands, products and personalities. The start-up has bold plans to give each advertiser “huge exposure” and international reach through an array of platforms, with the ultimate goal of making the picture visible to millions of prospective customers. How pricing works Advertising space in the CryptoPicture can be purchased using Ether, with the cost per unoccupied pixel rising increme

Seoul Mayor Aims To Launch Capital’s Own Crypto, Establish Better Environment For Blockchain Startups Seoul intends to develop a better environment for Blockchain projects, create own cryptocurrency, according to mayor Park Won-soon. Park Won-soon, the mayor of Seoul, has declared his intentions to launch South Korean capital’s own cryptocurrency and create a better environment for the development of Blockchain and digital currency projects in the city, the news outlet Hankyoreh reported March 30, referencing an interview with Coindesk Korea. Park made a public announcement on March 22, stating that he would pursue the creation of Blockchain-oriented industrial clusters and startups and work towards the development of Seoul’s own cryptocurrency ‘S coin.’ To achieve this goal, he will reportedly help prepare the necessary institutional and legal foundations: "As Seoul is the world's leading city in the field of information and communications, including the 4th industri