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Malta Government Official Announced Use of Blockchain Tech for National Business Registry

Malta-Government-Official-Announced-Use-of-Blockchain-Tech-for-National-Business-Registry
  • Blockchain technology will be used in Malta’s national business registry.
  • The authorities hope that the use of blockchain tech will improve efficiency.

Malta is one of the most crypto-friendly and blockchain-friendly regions in the world, so it should come as no surprise that the national business registry (MBR) is making changes in favor of these industries. According to Silvio Schembri, the Junior Minister for Financial Services, Digital Economy, and Innovation, the MBR will now use blockchain technology, making them the first government agency to run on a blockchain-based system with artificial intelligence.

The report on these statements, which were made at the inauguration of Prime Minister Dr. Joseph Muscat on the MBR’s new premises at the end of June. So far, the statements have already been confirmed by the Italian-Maltese Chamber of Commerce on Twitter, which included a link to the article regarding these changes.

Malta Independent, a local news outlet, reported that the agency’s goal is to ultimately improve the efficiency of the system, reducing the unnecessary bureaucratic procedures, investing in this information technology, according to Schembri. With the new MBR, new services will be available that were not offered in the past.

Dr. Muscat, the prime minister in Malta, stated that these developments coincide with the modernization process that the Malta Financial Services Authority is broadly implementing. With these changes in mind, becoming the global capital of blockchain developments and advancements will not be a tall order for Malta’s government.

[Author Alert] The author’s opinions above are solely based on their own self-conducted research. Assume any and all authors are using, holding, trading and/or buying cryptoassets mentioned as a portion of his or her financial portfolio. Use information at your own risk, do you own research, never invest more than you are willing to lose.

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Author: Krystle M

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BitPay Temporarily Halts Its Operations In Germany Citing Confusion In Crypto Payment Regulations

BitPay-Temporarily-Halts-Its-Operations-In-Germany-Citing-Confusion-In-Crypto-Payment-Regulations

Giant Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash payment processor BitPay has announced that it is temporarily withdrawing its operations in Germany.

In an e-mail sent to Cointelegraph on 1 August, BitPay confirmed that it had suspended its activities in Germany.

In the sent e-mail, the BitPay head of Public Relations, Jan Jahosky explained that the company has agreed to halt the provision of its services in Germany in view of the coming into force of the new regulations, scheduled for next year.

However, it seems that the company is already considering adding support for the German market again in the future:

“Germany has publicly stated that it wants the crypto companies to hold a license starting in 2020. We have suspended our operations in Germany while evaluating the need to obtain a German license.”

German Companies No Longer Accept Bitcoins

Meanwhile, the computer news site Computer Base today announced that it will no longer be able to support Bitcoin as a payment procedure precisely because of the BitPay suspension.

However, the company has also agreed that the majority of its users pay via PayPal or bank transfer, while Bitcoin does not seem to be a particularly widespread payment method. However, there are alternative, self-hosted and open-source payment processing services, such as BTCPay Server, which lessen reliance on secondary providers.

Reports by Cointelegraph state that starting next year, the new anti-money laundering regulations will come into force in Germany, which requires companies in the crypto sector to have a license issued by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority.

In the recent past, Germany has been in the forefront urging other European countries to adopt tough regulations on crypto-based initiatives. The country’s finance minister is on record saying that cryptos won’t be allowed to replace the Euro. Germany’s policymakers have also called for tough measures to curb any threats posed by Facebook’s Libra crypto.

Is Germany becoming anti-crypto going by its recent policies and regulations? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section.

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Author: Joseph Kibe

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Bitcoin & Ethereum On-chain Data Indicates We Might Have Reached the Bottom

Bitcoin-&-Ethereum-On-chain-Data-Indicates-We-Might-Have-Reached-the-Bottom
  • Bitcoin outflows from exchanges slows down
  • Demand for crypto-assets is back
  • The number of active addresses for USDT is strongly positive again

After breaking the five-month winning streak of Bitcoin, June saw the price dropping to as low as $9,050 on Bitstamp. Last week especially, Bitcoin remained around $9,500 that has the analyst calling out for a bigger drop to $8,500 if BTC/USD doesn’t manage to make it way upwards.

On July 27th Bitcoin price dropped $600 within an hour and in the following three days $248 million worth of BTC left the exchanges, with the outflow outpacing the inflow by 85%.

Following this decrease in the supply for BTC, the price started showing a positive trend. Yesterday, we jumped back to five digits and above $10,000.

Similarly, Ethereum dropped 6% the same time as BTC but unlike the flagship cryptocurrency, $27 million worth of Ether made its way into exchanges, with the inflow outperforming the outflow by 56%.

Though short term price bear projection for Bitcoin isn’t over yet, given the fact that August has been a bad month for the leading cryptocurrency historically, on-chain data suggests we just might have hit the bottom.

Bitcoin Outflows From Exchanges Slows Down

According to the data provided by TokenAnalsyt, overall on-chain volumes for both Bitcoin and Ethereum continues to decrease but it has slowed down from 47% last week to 22% this week.

The data related to transactions to and from exchanges provide a good indication of the supply and demand of an asset, with an increase in the outflow from exchanges means decreased supply while an increase in the inflow of stablecoins to exchanges means increased demand.

Exchange flows have decreased across the board in comparison to last week with BTC inflows dropping from -40% last week to -24% this week and BTC inflows falling -34% last week to -12% this week.

Demand for Crypto-Assets Is Back

When it comes to stablecoins, $60 million worth of USD pegged crypto-asset left the exchanges, showing little demand for buying digital currencies, during the three days until July 27th.

Three days after July 27th, however, $31 million were moved into exchanges, indicating a growth in demand for cryptocurrency.

The on-chain volume of stablecoin follows last week’s pattern and dropped by another 20 percent following last week’s 17% drop.

However, the number of addresses for USDT, the most controversial yet popular stablecoin with the highest volume is strongly positive again.

“Dare we say, on-chain data indicates that we have reached the bottom!,” comes TokenAnalyst’s response on the back of this positive data.

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Author: AnTy

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Multi-Crypto Wallet from Huobi Becomes a Tezos Baker, And Will Soon Support XTZ Token

Multi-Crypto-Wallet-from-Huobi-Becomes-a-Tezos-Baker-And-Will-Soon-Support-XTZ-Token
  • Huobi Wallet is adding support for the Tezos XTZ token.
  • Support for this token was also recently announced within Coinbase Pro.

Tezos is having a productive summer so far. Only days ago, Coinbase Pro announced that they were adding support for the cryptocurrency, leading to a boost of over 20% within a few hours. Now, they are teaming up with Huobi, according to a new tweet.

Huobi offers a wallet to users of their cryptocurrency exchange, and they’ve just announced that the XTZ tokens will be supported by, agreeing to participate in baking as well. Tezos uses the term “baking” to describe their Proof of Stake (PoS) staking counterpart.

In the tweet, the platform explains Tezos’s role as a self-amending network, which basically means that a hard fork is not required when it updates, due to the on-chain mechanisms and voting procedures. Huobi expresses that Tezos is a leader in both POS and governance, adding that it was “a no brainer to add XTZ” to their wallets.

The Tezos blockchain is seeing recent success as well. BTG Pactual, the biggest investment bank in Latin America, announced that they are shifting its security token offerings to this blockchain. This channel produces approximately $1 billion in sales.

At the time of writing, Tezos was trading at $1.35, showing a jump of almost 11% in the last 24 hours.

[Author Alert] The author’s opinions above are solely based on their own self-conducted research. Assume any and all authors are using, holding, trading and/or buying cryptoassets mentioned as a portion of his or her financial portfolio. Use information at your own risk, do you own research, never invest more than you are willing to lose.

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Author: Krystle M

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Bakkt To Launch Bitcoin (BTC) Futures Very Soon, Pending Final Regulatory Approval

Bakkt-To-Launch-Bitcoin-BTC-Futures-Very-Soon-ICE-CEO-Affirms

Bakkt, the Bitcoin futures platform created by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), is set to launch really soon, according to reports. The CEO of ICE, Jefferey Sprecher, has recently affirmed that the company is currently working in order to develop a regulated ecosystem that will cater to investors from all over the world.

He affirmed that the company is still waiting for the last regulatory approvals in order to move forward,but that they are pretty close of finally being able to launch their physically-settled futures. However, no specific timeline was provided during his speech.

It is now almost a whole year since Bakkt was announced and the platform is still not online. Bakkt was originally announced back in August 2018 with its ambitious plan of having physically-settled Bitcoin futures.

The initial launch date was December 2018 but the world has not been kind to ICE and Bakkt since then. Several problems with the regulators delayed the launch of the products considerably.

This caused some changes in the company’s plan, too. Initially, it was supposed to have its derivatives products overseen by the U. S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Now, the derivatives will be self-certified after some headaches with the regulator.

One of the main points that are still being awaited by the company is the trust charter from the New York Department of Financial Services. As soon as the warehouse of the company is approved by this local regulator, the products will finally be out of the door and Bakkt will start officially.

Launching is not a guarantee of success, though. Companies such as TD Ameritrade and ErisX are also planning to offer similar products. LedgerX can also be a competitor in this area, so it looks like Bakkt lost the chance to have an edge on the competition by not being approved quickly enough.

In spite of all the trouble with Bakkt, ICE is doing just fine, though. The company had revenue of $1.3 billion USD in the second quarter of 2019. The Chief Financial Officer of the company, Scott Hill, affirmed that ICE continues to be interested in the crypto market and that he believes that the Bitcoin ETF will be a reality within the next few years.

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Author: Gabriel Machado

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SpankChain Rolls Out SpankPay To Allow Its Users To Pay For Adult Content Using Cryptos

SpankChain-Rolls-Out-SpankPay-To-Allow-Its-Users-To-Pay-For-Adult-Content-Using-Cryptos

Adult entertainment provider, SpankChain has announced the launching of SpankPay, a crypto payment platform that users can use to pay for adult-rated content.

The Ethereum-based adult content platform is partnering with two partners who have already integrated with the platform; SkyPrivate which anonymously links models with their clients using skype as well as Discord and JustFor.Fans which offers different forms of adult entertainment.

According to an official statement from the firm, Spankpay will allow its customers to use various cryptos to pay comprising of Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC), as well as the “privacy coins” Zcash (ZEC) and Monero (XMR).

SpankChain’s CEO, Ameen Soleimani explained about the new payment service:

“With SpankPay, we are bringing immediate value to adult merchants by helping them accept crypto, avoid chargebacks, and reach a global audience.”

According to Soleimani, the new payment service platform would charge a 0.5 percent transaction fee.

Officials from the two pioneer partners praised the new payment service platform saying that blockchain-based infrastructure will offer crucial value in the adult content sector. JustFor.Fans creator Dominic Ford stated the following:

“Using SpankChain, we don’t have to worry about being shut down due to the fact that we are an adult company. We’d much rather support our fellow adult solution providers than use outside solutions that are potentially not adult-friendly.”

On his part SkyPrivate CEO, Alex Bluck stated that the partnership between his company and SpankChain will help to ensure that people in various industries are given the same treatment and equal rights when it comes to payment of services.

SpankChain has been in the fore line in creating a blockchain-based economic and technological infrastructure that enhance adult-rated content. The firm has already created a camsite referred to as Spanklive that will be integrated with the new crypto payment platform in the near future.

The new payment platform comes several months after SpankChain lost funds in a crypto after a hack in October 2018 that comprised of customer holdings. The firm was however able to persuade the hacker to return the lost funds and agreed to reimburse the affected users.

SpankChain joins the fray in adult content industry who are now accepting crypto payment for products and services offered. In April last year, Pornhub revealed that it had inked a deal with Verge to enable its users pay through cryptos.

At the beginning of this year, one of the largest crypto payment service offeror BitPay revealed that about $1 billion of its revenues in 2018 and cash from the adult entertainment had grown by more than 255 percent from 2017.

Some adult entertainment companies have even taken it a notch higher with CamSoda launching a platform which makes sex toys to vibrate when the prices of Bitcoin, Litecoin, or Ethereum increased.

Do you believe launching crypto payment services by adult entertainment companies will help to spur their earnings? Keep the conversation going in the comments section.

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Author: Joseph Kibe

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LedgerX’s Physically Settled Bitcoin Futures Have Not Been Approved by CFTC Yet

LedgerXs-Physically-Settled-Bitcoin-Futures-Have-Not-Been-Approved-by-CFTC-Yet
  • The CFTC has not approved the launch of LedgerX’s Omni platform.
  • Previous reports from The Block and others reported that the bitcoin futures had been launched, following a tweet from LedgerX.

Yesterday, reports came out that LedgerX was finally launching the physically delivered bitcoin [BTC] options and custody that they had been working on, according to The Block. In the original report, The Block had spoken previously with LedgerX’s CEO, discussing the way that this product would open doors for institutional investors. While these previous reports showed accurate information about what the public can expect from the new product, the launch has not happened.

The Block reported on the current situation, correcting their previous statements. Instead, the publication is now claiming that the current state of the launch is “unclear,” and that the futures contracts do not appear to be going live anytime soon, as the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has already stated that they’ve not approved the launch, according to statements released to CoinDesk.

Many publications reported on an announcement from LedgerX, dated July 31st, that the Omni trading platform already had physical futures offering live. However, based on information from the CFTC, that is impossible. On Twitter, a derivative specialist named Thomas G. Thompson said that “the CFTC does not show any futures contracts certified by” the authority. While it is possible that their existing swaps were launched on the new futures platform, he added that this is “still [an] important development.”

The reporter with The Block stated that there’s no reported trade volume at this point, according to an anonymous industry leader, which suggests that the launch didn’t happen. However, on the official Twitter account for LedgerX, the company invited users to sign up to receive “early access” to Ledger OmniX.

Yesterday, LedgerX had tweeted that they were “live with retail trading on Omni.” However, the tweet has since been deleted. The screenshot, pulled from reports from The Block, can be seen below.

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/LedgerX-287x450.png

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/LedgerX-287x450.png

LedgerX originally revealed in April that they were working to offer Bitcoin futures, following their filing with the CFTC in November 2018 for the requisite licenses. Last month, the CFTC provided LedgerX with a designated contract markets (DCM) license, offering the final approval that it needed. While approval processes have been complete, a launch date has not officially been announced.

Along with LedgerX, Bakkt is already working with the CFTC to obtain a trust charter from the New York Department of Financial Services. Bakkt would most likely launch within a few weeks of having this trust charter approved.

ErisX, much like LedgerX, has received the approvals that they need, but no launch date or other timeline has been made available for their futures contracts. Cryptocurrency spot trading started being offered by ErisX in April of this year.

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Author: Krystle M

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Global Macro Investor: Even 1% Chance of 100x Upside Makes Bitcoin “Crazy Attractive” to “Macro Guys”

Global-Macro-Investor-says-even-1-Chance-of-100x-Upside-makes-Bitcoin-Crazy-Attractive-to-Macro-Guys
  • Former Goldman Sachs executive Raoul Pal says Bitcoin at current value ‘ludicrously’ underpriced
  • Macro guys find it “super interesting” and “they’re all in it”

Former Goldman Sachs executive Raoul Pal, the founder of Real Vision Group told Stephen Livera on his podcast this week that Bitcoin at its current price may be ‘ludicrously’ underpriced and has the potential to hit $8 trillion.

“If you try and get your head around the digitization of everything… around an alternative financial system.”

Explaining how Bitcoin can hit trillion-dollar market capitalization, he points to analyst PlanB’s stock to flow model that puts BTC value at $1 million and beyond in the future. Bitcoin derives this value from its scarcity just like gold and silver.

Gold currently has the higher SF of 62 while BTC is currently at 25, after the fourth reward halving, its SF will double and come very close to that of gold at 50.

“Even if it has a low probability. If you recreate a low probability of let’s say, what’s the global money supply and global debt? It’s something like $80 trillion. So if it’s worth $80 trillion dollars, let’s say you have a 10% probability. That’s $8 trillion. [Bitcoin] is currently worth $200 billion. So even if it has a 1% chance of working – that’s how probabilistic frameworks work.”

This is the reason Pal says Bitcoin is “ludicrously underpriced,” and that makes it

“crazy attractive..sucking in so many of these macro guys, because they’re like, ‘Damn, nothing else has this payoff’.”

Even as low as a 1 percent chance of bitcoin going 100x, that’s enough for the macro investors to put their skin in and finding it “super interesting.’”

“I know all these macro guys, they’re all in it. They get it. They get the optionality. They may be complete believers, part believers, partial believers. But even then, if it’s a 1% chance of being right and the upside is 100x from here, you’d do this all day.”

You can check out the full podcast here.

[Author Alert] The author’s opinions above are solely based on their own self-conducted research. Assume any and all authors are using, holding, trading and/or buying cryptoassets mentioned as a portion of his or her financial portfolio. Use information at your own risk, do you own research, never invest more than you are willing to lose.

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Author: AnTy

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Ripple’s Open To Being Compliant To Regulators; XRP Is Technically Bullish But Why Are Prices Tepid?

Ripples-Open-To-Being-Compliant-To-Regulators-XRP-Is-Technically-Bullish-But-Why-Are-Prices-Tepid

Today’s Ripple (XRP) News

A lot has been said about cryptocurrencies, their future and what’s not. Well, the fact is, blockchain as a technology is here to stay. Unfortunately for no-coiners and bashers, the sector will only flourish with time as an ingredient.

On the other plane, cryptocurrencies, including Ripple (XRP), would most likely be better regulated and exchanges’ propensity to manipulate prices tamed. It may take years, but overly, there is a high probability that it will happen. It’s only a matter of when.

To that end, a few hours before the Senate Banking Committee hearing, discussing the way to better regulate cryptocurrencies and other blockchain applications, Brad Garlinghouse and the Chairman of the blockchain payment firm, wrote a letter appealing to Congress not to paint the industry in what they termed as a “broad brush.”

After public criticism from Donald Trump and later the Secretary of Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, the community even speculated that the world’s largest economy may be on their path of banning cryptocurrencies and crushing innovation.

Well, even if they would, they can’t because of the decentralized nature of these use cases. That’s what Crapo, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee said. It’s a reality that they had to face, and besides, blanket ban of cryptocurrencies is but an illegality. Expression, speech or technology wise, is under the protection of the First Amendment, analysts and lawyers assert.

Encouragingly, Ripple (XRP) as startup, is not really against any law/guidance. In their open letter, they admitted that the government is “well suited for their job,” and through their efforts there is trust, leading to the acceptability of any currency. Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse the CEO insists, is compliant and ready to work with regulators.

XRP/USD Price Analysis

Ripple XRP

Presently, XRP is steady, trending horizontally with caps at 34 cents. Technically bullish in the sense that the coin is largely consolidating inside the leading bull bar of Sep 2018, buyers have a chance from an effort versus result point of view.

Therefore, while bears may be pressing lower, preventing bulls from rising from these pits, every low should, nonetheless, be a buying opportunity for enterprising, risk-off traders. To that end, a fitting stop will be just below 30 cents with immediate target at 34 cents.

However, if buyers step up and the breaching bar, closing above 34 cents has high trading volumes exceeding 40 million of July 15, then XRP prices would easily float to 40 cents, and higher in days ahead.

Further, there would be more upsides for XRP if the same momentum drive prices above 40 cents with high volumes surpassing 50 million of July 10. In that eventuality, XRP may easily rally to 50 cents in a revitalizing move that would catalyze demand as buyers aim for the ultimate 80 cents, the high of Sep 2018.

Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed are those of the author and is not investment advice. Trading of any form involves risk. Do your due diligence.

All of Today’s Ripple (XRP) Price Analysis, Chart Forecasts and Industry News

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Author: Dalmas N