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Top Analyst: Foul Play Pumped the Crypto Market by $66 Billion

[Image: shutterstock_1012882111-540x340.jpg]

Jacob Canfield, a crypto market analyst known for accurately predicting bitcoin’s 2020 price rally, has alleged that there was market manipulation in the trading of altcoins this year.

In a video published last week, Mr. Canfield linked the resurgence of otherwise underperforming cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and EOS to PlusToken, a Ponzi scheme that, under the disguise of a high yield investment company, stole over $3 billion from its clients. The steal included 70,000 bitcoin, 790,000 ether, and 26 million EOS tokens.

Mr. Canfield noted that PlusToken scammers first artificially pumped bitcoin from $3,500 to circa $14,000 last year. They then sold about 70-90K BTC in the range of $9,000 and $13,000, which roughly equals about $600 million. The profitable move gave them enough capital to drive the altcoin market upward.

Quote:“If [Plustoken scammers] are using their capital to push the Ethereum market, then they can push its prices back to $300, $500, $600 and even $1,000,” said Mr. Canfield. “They can also set up traps for short-sellers and continue to push the short-seller cascade in thin-order markets.”

The statements came at the time when altcoins are severely outperforming their top rival bitcoin. Ethereum and EOS, for instance, surged by up to 130 and 155 percent after bottoming out in December 2019. In the same timeframe, bitcoin surged by up to 63 percent only.

On the whole, the crypto market – excluding bitcoin – attracted up to circa $66 billion between December 2019 until February 2020 top.

Mr. Canfield theorized that PlusToken scammers are using cryptocurrency exchanges and OTC brokers with closed order-books to trade their steal for alternative crypto tokens. The analyst further admitted that he has stopped entering short leveraged positions over his fears of fat price dumps.

Crypto Trend Will Continue

Despite fears of a massive dump, Mr. Canfield believed the crypto market will keep rising. The analyst recommended traders to identify near-term dips to buy Ethereum, EOS or other altcoins but exit their positions on the first signs of deep pullbacks.

He further advised traders to watch the crypto wallets that belong to the scammers associated with PlusToken, noting that any kind of small or big withdrawal would alert them of a potential bearish correction.

Quote:“What I’m watching is for those PlusToken coins to move. Potentially, that could be a tapping indicator of the altcoin market,” Mr. Canfield explained.

source https://www.newsbtc.com/2020/02/20/foul-...p-analyst/
by Yashu Gola

Read More, Posted by: crytocure

Stellar (XLM) Corrects Down Below $0.070 mark in 7-days

The crypto market has been registering heavy downside movement from the past few days. The currencies that are considered as the trending ones have fallen prey to the pressure. Stellar Lumens is also among the same coins. The price has dribbled to $0.069.

The traders were eyeing for a higher level after last week’s tremendous performance. However, the XLM coin was taken over by the selling pressure. The anticipations of improvement are still ripe. The same might help the coin to regain its momentum.

Stellar Price Analysis

[Image: TV-XLM-1.png.webp]

Stellar crypto was at $0.0850 on February 14, and then, it slipped to $0.0801 by 5.78% on the same day and closed the day at $0.0888. On the next day, the price dribbled to $0.0853 but remained at the same level till 14:10 UTC. The XLM price dropped again and touched $0.0770 and the day closed at $0.0788. On February 16, the coin exhibited slight growth during the opening hour, but it dropped to $0.0680. The recovery struck again, and the day ended at $0.0745.

On February 17, at 14:30 UTC, the price counter touched $0.0674. The closing period of the same brought improvement that continued till February 18, 2020, at 08:15 UTC. The price hanged at the same level for a while. The coin escalated on February 19 to $0.0792 but the same was followed by a heavy drop and the coin touched $0.0683. The XLM coin might be seen slipping to the immediate support level at $0.0676. The currency is recommended for short-term investment as a long-term investment might turn out to be risky.

source https://www.coinnewsspan.com/stellar-xlm...in-7-days/
by Erica Lee

Read More, Posted by: crytocure

How to Make $300K + $600K for Free in Minutes "Legally" - DeFi Protocol Exploited by

[Image: piqsels.com-id-zkhat.jpg:resizeboxcropjpg?1580x888]

How to Make $300K + $600K for Free in Minutes "Legally" - DeFi Protocol Exploited by Attacker

It is no secret that DeFi (Decentralized Finance) is a hot topic within the cryptocurrency community. You only need to take a look at DeFiPulse.com to see that there is already over $1 billion dollars locked up in various DeFi smart contracts.

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The numbers have been growing quite substantially over the past few months as more investors flock to take advantage of any financial advantages that different DeFi protocols can offer.

However, this past week, there have been some large scale attacks on specific DeFi networks that have caused some alarm and concern within the industry. A user managed to take almost $1 million dollars in two separate attacks on a platform known as bZx, a DeFi lending platform.

In this article, I will attempt to go through what happened to explain how this attacker managed to take advantage of some security flaws within the DeFi ecosystem on two separate occasions, using two separate attack vectors. This could get a little complicated, but I have attempted to make this as simple as possible for you.

Let’s start with the first attack.

The Valentine's Day attack - taking advantage of illiquid markets

The first attack happened on Valentine’s Day whilst the bZx team was scheduled to present at a DeFi conference at ETHDenver. As a quick summary, the hacker basically managed to take out a flash loan on one platform and sent this loan to two other platforms in which he took advantage of low liquidity after opening a “short” (sell) position to gain a substantial gain.

Here is a breakdown of what happened;

The attacker took out a 10,000 Ethereum ETH, -8.60% flash loan on dYdX which was worth around $2.6 million. A flash loan is basically a DeFi based loan that is based on code and, therefore, no conditions are required as the code guarantees that the loan will be repaid. All the steps are coded into the smart contract in 1 go so the borrowing, the action (what the loan was used for), and the repayment all occur in one transaction.

With this 10,000 ETH loan, 5,500 ETH was sent to Compound Finance. It was used as collateral for the attacker to take out a loan of 112 Wrapped Bitcoin WBTC, -4.38%. This is basically just a ERC-20 synthetic BTC token backed on a 1:1 basis. Here, the attacker held the wBTC ready to be dumped later down the line in his code.

1,300 ETH was sent to the Fulcrum (bZx) platform and was used to open a short position for ETH in favor of wBTC on the wETHwBTCx5 market. This basically means he shorted ETH and went long wBTC - because the attacker knew wBTC was about to increase (because of what they had planned). Notice the x5 at the end of the market name. This means that they used 5x leverage, allowing their 1,300 ETH to be inflated to around 5,600 ETH.

This 5,600 ETH was then swapped for 51.34 wBTC using KyberSwap. Now, here is where the magic happened. Because of the low liquidity within wBTC, this large swap caused slippage within the market - allowing wBTC to have a spike in price. The conversion rate of wBTC went to around 109.9 wETH which is roughly three times the normal conversion rate of 58.5 wETH/wBTC.

Remember the 5x short sETHwBTC position? Well, this position was now in a great level of profit at this time as the conversion price of wBTC went higher.

The attacker then sells the 112 wBTC that they borrowed from Compound back into wETH, via UniSwap (another DeFi platform) which netted them 6,871 ETH. The attacker then went on to repay the original 10,000 ETH flash loan taken on dYdX.

After all the calculations are done from the Compound, bZx, and additional wETH arbitrage positions, the attacker managed to net around 1,271 ETH from this first attack, granting them around $310,000 profit (at an ETH price of around $250).

Once the bZx team noticed this attack, they paused their platform and re-opened a little later after some security adjustments. This allowed the attacker to conduct a separate attack.

The second attack - manipulating the price oracles

A few days later, we saw the second attack occur in which the attacker managed to gain around 2,388 ETH (around $600,000) through a different attack vector. This attack vector involved price manipulation.

Here is the breakdown of what happened;

The attacker took out another flash loan of 7,500 ETH (assumably on dYdX again).

They used around 3,518 ETH of this loan to buy sUSD sUSD, -1.43% on the Synthetix platform. In this transaction, they bought around $940,000 worth of sUSD at a price near $1.

This sUSD was then sent to bZx and was used as collateral on the platform, ready to be executed later.

The attacker then used another 900 ETH from the original loan to buy sUSD on both Kyber and UniSwap. This injection into the sUSD market caused the price of sUSD to skyrocket toward $2.

Now that sUSD was at $2, it allowed the attacker to take out a much larger loan on bZx than he was supposed to. This is because the sUSD collateral that was put seemed much bigger than it actually was.

With the inflated sUSD price, the attacker was able to take out a loan of 6,796 ETH on bZx. They used this and the remaining ETH balance (3,083 ETH) to repay the original flash loan they took out.

This resulted in the attacker gaining 2,388 ETH in total whilst the liquidity in bZx lost $1.8 million and the sUSD liquidity gained $1.1 million. The remaining $600,000 was left in the attacker’s hands.

What have we learned?

This attack certainly highlights that oracle feeds used by DeFi protocols are vulnerable to manipulation and brings to light how different attack vectors can be taken advantage of. The bZx team has stated that they are expediting their implementation of a new decentralized oracle, known as ChainLink, which will be taking price data from many different feeds to prevent this attack vector from being possible.

Nevertheless, the damage to bZx has already occurred and it is difficult to tell if their reputation will be affected in the long run.

One thing we do know for sure is that this has highlighted that DeFi may still not be ready to reach the mass market and centralized “safety measures” will still be needed in the short term.

source https://coincodex.com/article/7056/how-t...s-legally/
by Yaz Sheikh

Read More, Posted by: crytocure

Instant Crypto Exchanges, Explained

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Instant Crypto Exchanges, Explained

1. What are instant crypto exchanges?

Even for crypto industry veterans, the role and functionality of instant crypto exchanges may be unfamiliar. You won’t see the likes of Changelly, Shapeshift and ChangeNOW on CoinMarketCap’s top exchanges list, and the name itself isn’t terribly descriptive. So what is an instant crypto exchange?

An instant crypto exchange is an exchange solution, which typically aggregates prices and liquidity from multiple custodial trading exchanges, offers a light registration process with a simple exchange UX. This is obviously quite different than custodial trading exchanges like Binance and OKEx — which safeguard your crypto — that are limited to volume and prices on their exchange, can feature lengthy signup processes, and have a more professional trading interface.

2. Understanding the benefits of instant crypto exchanges

The differences between instant and traditional exchanges do not make one inherently better than the other — they’ve been created for different use cases. Developing an understanding of instant crypto exchanges will help you determine which solution best fits your needs. Below are some of the potential benefits of opting for an instant crypto exchange:

Funds storage — safety

Perhaps the most fundamental way, in which instant crypto exchanges differ from their more traditional exchange counterparts is the way funds are kept. Instant crypto exchanges receive and deposit funds directly to your wallet, meaning you retain custody — as opposed to custodial trading exchanges that hold your assets for you.

As you know, not your keys, not your coins. By enabling you to retain custody of your funds, instant crypto exchanges grant you more control and better safety. If you practice good operational security, which typically includes not holding your funds on an exchange, then the likelihood of an attacker wanting to gain access to your wallet is relatively small compared to the massive honeypots of custodial exchanges. In 2019, we saw 12 exchange hacks, with stolen funds totaling over $290M. By using an instant crypto exchange, you can avoid the centralized exchange hack risk without having to constantly be shifting your funds on and off an exchange.

It should be noted that instant exchanges utilize traditional custodial exchanges to execute an order. This means that for the duration of a transaction the specific funds involved in the trade are briefly custodied by the underlying exchange.

Signups and interface — ease of use

If you don’t already have a favorite exchange, the signup and registration process is a factor to consider in choosing one to use. Many of the traditional exchanges have lengthy signup processes that include identity verification and long processing times. In contrast, many instant crypto exchanges allow you to exchange crypto-to-crypto trading pairs with only an email, mobile app or wallet address. Changelly, for instance, requires you to use an email or social media page to sign up for your account — a process that takes minutes before allowing you to trade. Not surprisingly, if you’d like to trade fiat-to-crypto, Changelly does require you to go through a Know Your Customer process and to connect your bank account, though purchases under $150 can be made without KYC.

Once onboarded onto an exchange, you will also see a major difference between the user interface of the instant vs. the traditional. Instant crypto exchanges feel more like modern financial apps than trading terminals; they’re sleek, simple to use and highly intuitive.

[Image: e2380819de31e686f1208927cf14a2c0.png]

Source: www.changelly.com

While this might feel minimalistic to an experienced trader, for those looking to simply invest or make a single transaction, it’s a highly attractive option. To compare, power-traders using options like Coinbase Pro see the following:

[Image: bf9b32f8549d57c7545944a1cb775170.png]

Source: pro.coinbase.com

As it is clearly evident, a traditional crypto exchange has a lot more information for an experienced trader to digest and act on. But for users looking to have an easy on-boarding and trading experience, instant crypto exchanges offer a much simpler alternative.

Aggregation and fixed/floating rates — price

For those of you familiar with traditional crypto exchanges, you’ll know why Coinbase Pro’s interface is so extensive in comparison: You need to know what the price and depth of the order book in order to make your trade. This order book depth is exchange-specific — it only includes the orders placed on Coinbase. Instant crypto exchanges, on the other hand, aggregate prices and liquidity from multiple exchanges, meaning you get access to the best prices those multiple exchanges have to offer, with deeper liquidity and less risk of slippage.

When placing the actual order, these two solutions also differ. A common traditional exchange order type is a limit that tells the system to execute the buy or sell order when the price is at or better than a specific limit. This gives traders more flexibility and control over their trades.

Instant crypto exchanges also have a beneficial feature in trading execution: fixed or floating rates. A floating rate is executed at the best possible price at the time of the transaction, which could be slightly above or below the quoted price due to market volatility. A fixed rate locks in a specific rate and guarantees the trade will be executed at that price, which, again, might be above or below the floating rate depending on market volatility.

3. The drawbacks of instant crypto exchanges

While it’s clear that there are a number of advantages to instant crypto exchanges, there are some drawbacks worth noting. While onboarding onto an instant exchange is a quick and simple process, it does require the knowledge and use of a wallet. For a novice cryptocurrency user, the learning curve and responsibility of safeguarding your own crypto assets can prove to be a barrier to entry. Users should do their research to understand exactly how wallets work, as lost funds are most often not recoverable.

The use of wallets is the one place where instant exchanges actually require more sophistication. Most of the time, a more sophisticated approach accompanies the traditional trading exchanges. As with wallets and self-safeguarding, however, greater sophistication can have a payoff. For custodial exchanges, the sophistication of interfaces seen above comes with more advanced trading options. These can be more sophisticated instruments, like derivatives, order placement — like stop-limit orders — leverage and margin.

Finally, trading fees should be considered. Instant crypto exchanges tend to charge between 0.25–0.50%, where many traditional exchanges typically charge closer to 0.05–0.50%. Depending on your price sensitivity and frequency of trading, a traditional exchange solution may make more sense.

4. Finding the right exchange solution

By now, it should be clear that the right solution for your exchange needs depends largely on your needs and goals. For those seeking a simple use experience with quick onboarding, price confidence and fiat on-and-off ramps, instant crypto exchanges like Changelly are a good fit. For more experienced traders with diligent operational security and a sophisticated strategy, traditional crypto exchanges might be a better fit. With the information above, you should be well-equipped to make the right decision to fit your needs.

Learn more about Changelly

source https://cointelegraph.com/explained/inst...-explained
by Benjamin Crowell

Read More, Posted by: crytocure

Tom Lee: ‘In the Long Term’ Bitcoin Could Achieve ‘100X Increase in Price’

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On Tuesday (February 18), Thomas Lee, Co-Founder, Managing Partner, and Head of Research at independent research boutique Fundstrat Global Advisors, gave an interview during which he presented his outlook on Bitcoin.

Lee's comments on Bitcoin came during a guest appearance on "MarketBrief", the weekly digital show, hosted by Caroline Woods, which was launched last November by Dow Jones’ Barron’s Group.

Woods started the interview by asking Lee to clarify his most recent price forecast for Bitcoin. Woods was referring to Lee's interview on February 10 on CNBC's "Power Lunch", where he said that he expected Bitcoin to reach $40,000 before the Dow Jones Industrial Average (aka "the Dow") reached this number.

Woods wanted to know if Lee stood behind that forecast and why he was so bullish on Bitcoin.

Lee answered:

"Yes, and so that's absolutely our belief.

"Bitcoin is a network value asset, so the more people who hold it and find it useful the greater its price gain. It's really a log function. Today, about 500,000 people use Bitcoin. So, for it to quadruple, you just need to double the number of users."

Woods then asked Lee what he thought about those "parabolic bulls" who have come up with Bitcoin price forecasts as high as $250,000 or $500,000.

Here, Lee came across as the most bullish he has ever been on Bitcoin:

"I think, in the long term, it's possible because today Bitcoin's transaction activity is twice that of PayPal, seven times Discover Network.

"It's the second largest transaction network after Visa. And there's four billion Visa card holders; so if you get to ... five million Bitcoin users, it's almost a 100X increase in price."

Woods walso wanted to know why Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari was wrong to say on February 11 during an interview that cryptocurrencies were a “giant garbage dumpster."

Lee said:

"I think that the current monetary system works quite well.

"So, it's not like I'm necessarily critical of how financial systems work, but too much money is paid to intermediaries. Today, roughly 6% of all GDP globally is paid to the financial system to manage trust.

Bitcoin's been around for eleven years. Has never had a single fraudulent activity on its blockchain -- $5 trillion of activity.

So, it works better than the traditional financial system, and the cost is vastly lower. Today, you can transmit a million dollars of Bitcoin between countries for $15. That same transaction using... remittance... would cost you five to ten percent of that. So, fifty to a hundred thousand [dollars]."

Next, Woods asked Lee what potential events could "derail" Lee's forecast.

Lee answered:

"Well, the future's uncertain, and and bitcoin would be destroyed if there was some sort of Proof-of-Work attack on its blockchain -- so somehow the blockchain became insecure -- it would lose all of its value.

"Governments could try to ban the off-ramping of Bitcoin. So to convert it back into fiat, they could tax it, or make it illegal. That would make it very difficult.

"So there's a lot of ways to kill Bitcoin, but look it's a generational thing... just like young people adopted the internet, young people are adopting cryptocurrencies."

Finally, Lee talked about the impact of the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak on Bitcoin:

"This isgood for Bitcoin because it's creating a asynchronous or, you know, idiosyncratic event that makes Bitcoin more useful. You know, China's trying to contain its market. People want to move money freely, there's geopolitical tensions, makes Bitcoin more useful, but... the coronoavirus, I think, is ultimately a non-issue globally."

On January 2030, Lee was a guest on CNBC's "Fast Money", where he explained why he felt that 2020 should be a great year for Bitcoin:

"Yeah, 2020 should be great for Bitcoin because you got number one the halvening happening -- the block reward for miners getting cut in half -- that's a good supply demand change.

"I think last year the White House killed the Bitcoin rally with their opposition, but with the presidential election cycle underway, it's not gonna be in the headlines, and that's bullish for Bitcoin.

"And then with geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, I think that's good for crypto... We're getting a lot more interest in it from our clients."

As for Bitcoin's remarks about Bitcoin breaking the 200-day moving average, what he was referring to is that, historically, whenever the Bitcoin price breaks above its 200-day moving average, the "win-rate" (over the next six months) increases to 80%, and means that Bitcoin is "re-entering" bullet market territory:

Quote:
Thomas Lee@fundstrat

Bitcoin moved back above its 200-day moving average on 1/27... positive milestone and reinforcing 2020 shaping up to be great year for $BTC #bitcoin

- whenever BTC >200D, win-rate (6M forward) jumps to 80% and essentially "re-entering" bull market (>200D)#BTD #bestasset2020

900
00:04 - 30 Jan 2020
Twitter Ads information and privacy

source https://www.cryptoglobe.com/latest/2020/...-in-price/
by Siamak Masnavi

Read More, Posted by: crytocure

Real Private Transactions on a Public Blockchain By TomoChain

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A protocol that hides transaction value, sender and receiver information.

TomoChain, introduced it’s high-performance and anonymous transfer protocol TomoP to the community. And it promises to roll out a public testnet by February 2020. With TomoP, TomoChain intends to execute safe transactions that will be untraceable on its public blockchain.

Accordingto the TomoP Paper, the blockchain protocol allows the creation of anonymous transactions. Precisely speaking, users can hide the sender and receiver details. Along with that, the transaction values can also be kept private. It is the first-ever EVM compatible protocol to completely anonymize the transactions. Additionally, TomoP requires no intermediary layer to completely privatize these transactions.

TomoP – Beyond Privacy

For Monero users, TomoP transactions might sound much Monero transactions. But the TomoP transactions are going to be packed in a smart contract. And these will be executed on a very fast blockchain TomoChain.

Blistering Fast transactions

Existing privacy coins make users compromise on the speed of the transactions. From a non-conservative perspective, Monero’s transaction processing time is over 2 mins. Other competitors like Zcoin and Zcash transaction processing time is also close to 2.5 mins. TomoP takes an entirely different approach. To be a high-performance privacy protocol as it promises to be, it operates as a DApp. TomoP transaction confirmation time will range between 2-4 seconds.

Complete anonymity

With its unique architecture, TomoP does not require a relayer. The relayer basically switches the transaction from the public to private. Thus it is able to maintain complete transaction privacy in a decentralized manner. As it uses TomoZ, the transactions are always going to gasless.

MultiChain Support

TomoP will support private transactions for tokens like Tomo, TRC21P as well as BTC, ETH, and USDT.

Dual Key System

TomoP will support a dual key system. And this ensures the private transactions can be viewed by regulatory authorities. But only when authorized by the user.

Additionally, the SDK’s and SDK documentation will help TomoP integration to exchanges and third-party wallets.

Earlier, TomoChain partnered with Incognito to support its side chain.

source https://www.altcoinbuzz.io/cryptocurrenc...tomochain/
by Deepika Garg

Read More, Posted by: crytocure

Forex Or Cryptocurrency Exchanges: Where Is It More Profitable To Trade?

Forex is an international financial market for currency exchange. The number of individual traders around the world today is huge, and the forex turnover is more than 5 trillion dollars a day.

Recently, cryptocurrency has been added to the list of trading instruments on the exchange. High cost and great volatility have turned it into a new trend. Today, many forex brokers offer cryptocurrency trading intermediary services. Let's try to find out if cryptocurrency trading is really as profitable as they say, what risks an unprepared trader may face, and what are the key differences between cryptocurrency trading and trading on the classic forex market.

Where To Buy Cryptocurrency?

According to the rating of forex brokers, cryptocurrency trading services are offered by many brokers. Some of the most common include Forex.com, XTB, CMC markets, eToro, and others.

Is Cryptocurrency Trading A Risk?

The high price of bitcoin, altcoins, ethereum, and other digital currencies inspires traders. Many simply invest in currency and expect unprecedented growth. Traders, on the other hand, understand that you can earn both on the growth of the crypto and its fall. However, cryptocurrency trading carries risks. Let's figure out which ones.

The cryptocurrency market is extremely volatile. Take, for example, the most popular cryptocurrency - Bitcoin. As of December 2017, Bitcoin was worth $ 19,253 per unit, but by April 2018, its price had almost halved and amounted to $ 8566. Daily fluctuations in the course sometimes reach 30%. Due to the unpredictability of crypto behavior, an inexperienced trader can lose everything in one transaction.
The price trend in the forex market depends on economic and non-market factors. It is influenced by politics, the absence or increase in demand for foreign currency. Forex trading strategies have long been familiar to traders. The situation on the cryptocurrency exchange is strongly influenced by IT trends. If the trader does not understand them, the risk of making a wrong bet increases. Thus, cryptocurrency trading, in contrast to forex trading, requires additional knowledge.
Cryptocurrency does not yet have legal status in many countries. This means that a country's decision to legitimize or ban it can cause both collapse and a sharp rise in the rate. Confirmation of this is the situation in China. The ban on cryptocurrency and ICO trading was followed by a sharp decline in bitcoin. The Chinese authorities did not stop the fact that the country is mined? of the total share of bitcoins in the world.
The currency quote of any currency depends on macroeconomic indicators: inflation, unemployment, the productivity of the economy and the number of financial reserves of the country. In other words, it has a real foundation. Cryptocurrency is not attached to anything.
The inapplicability of technical and fundamental analysis for building a trading strategy. That is cryptocurrency trading is roulette. No one knows what will happen to her tomorrow.
It is problematic to raise funds on the exchange - large losses on the conversion of funds into cryptocurrency.

However, cryptocurrency trading has several undeniable advantages:

It is modern and interesting to sort out a new market.
Big profits. Cryptocurrency earning potential is not limited.
Thanks to broker leverage, the minimal investment allows you to get good earnings.
Cryptocurrency is a limited resource; only a small percentage of people own it. The more limited the resource, the higher its price.
If cryptocurrency is legalized, the price will go up sharply
Very high level of protection. Digital money cannot be faked or stolen.

Forex Trading - Less Profit, But Less Risk?

A significant trump card in the forex market is high liquidity. You can make a large number of transactions on one currency quote in a short period.
24-hour availability. The forex market is open around the clock. You can trade at a convenient time from anywhere in the world.
A wide range of tools for trading: proven trading strategies, a large number of robots and advisers that help to earn and control risks.
Using technical and fundamental analysis to build a long-term trading strategy.
Lots of training courses and materials
Professional Trading Platforms
High payback. Thanks to the leverage (sometimes it reaches 1: 3000), a small starting capital allows you to open deals that exceed it many times.
Predictability
A huge number of bonus programs that allow you to start trading and make a profit even without money.

However, Forex is also not without flaws

Unfair brokers spoil market’s reputation.
If you choose a little-known company, then it can cost you all your money. Since the company may be one-day.
High shoulders = high risks. And with low leverage, earnings are no longer so high.
Forex trading also carries risks. One wrong transaction may cost a deposit.

While it can be hard not to be tempted to trade with one of the hundreds of new cryptocurrency exchanges popping up across the internet, these exchanges can often be hacked and sometimes fined for not full filling KYC/AML regulations.

Even with the expanding number of currencies adopting cryptocurrency trading, many regulatory questions and challenges are still to be answered.

source https://cryptodaily.co.uk/2020/02/forex-...ofit-trade
by Jeff Parker

Read More, Posted by: crytocure

Stellar Awaits “Golden Crossover” on a Daily Chart; Gains Over 9%

[Image: Stellar-Lumens-Cryptonewsz-09-1.jpg]

Stellar (XLM), at the time of writing this article, was trading at $0.0759 and was hinting towards a positive intraday move. Just as BTC/USD is seen trading above $10,000 after 5 days of sluggish movement and testing supports around $9,600 and $9,700.

Moreover, we anticipated this bullish move due to the “golden crossover” that took place yesterday, and now Bitcoin along with major altcoins are expected to be pumped with momentum and hit fresh highs. Currently, the daily moving averages are showing two different scenarios but the price of XLM coin is likely to draw profits today on the daily chart.

Stellar Lumens Price Prediction

XLM/USD Chart by TradingView

Firstly, analyzing the 20-day movement of XLM against USD, we see that the coin had a rising trend in the early half of the given timeframe. A steep rise also took the price of Stellar to mount at a fresh 90-day high at $0.0889, just when Bitcoin hit $10,500 and faced a strong rejection above it. Further, the XLM coin also faced rejection and nosedived just to bottom out at $0.0662.

However, the intraday move has been quite impressive as the coin gained the required momentum yesterday and is currently trading at $0.0755. The probable reason aligned to the major altcoins trading in the green today is the golden crossover 0f BTC on a daily chart that happened yesterday.

XLM/USD Chart by TradingView

Therefore, a more emphasized view shows that the intraday pace took the price of Stellar Lumens to mount at $0.0770 from $0.0701, marking a progression of over 9% in less than 24 hours. Owing to this growth to the assigned technical indicators, we see that the 200-day MA just crossed above 50-day MA, showing a “death crossover” and a slight correction to $0.0759 from $0.0770. The price of XLM coin has risen above 38.20% Fib Level and holds a bullish intraday divergence, with RSI at 68.16.

XLM/USD Chart by TradingView

Comparing the intraday chart with the daily chart over the past 10 weeks, we see that Stellar is awaiting the “golden crossover” to make good the losses with moderate volatility, as seen from the 20-day Bollinger Bands. Just as the price of Bitcoin has hit above $10,000 after having a “golden crossover,” the major altcoins are likely to experience the same, which includes XLM coin as well.

source https://www.cryptonewsz.com/stellar-awai...r-9/59033/
by Mehak Punjabi

Read More, Posted by: crytocure

Stellar joins Blockchain Association for mainstream adoption

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Stellar joins Blockchain Association in a bid to boost mainstream crypto adoption. As per the official announcement, the parent company of the XLM token and Stellar blockchain network, the Stellar Foundation has joined hands with the official Blockchain Association.

Every cryptocurrency has a fundamental goal i.e. to promote the mainstream adoption of digital currencies and increase their day-to-day use. Blockchain Association works to boost the public adoption of cryptocurrencies as well as decentralized open-source blockchain technologies. Stellar joins Blockchain Association with a similar aim. Other prominent members of the group include names such as Ripple, Kraken, Coinbase, and many more.

Stellar joins Blockchain Association in its crusade against strict regulations

The Blockchain Association has rallied for the crypto issues at both state and federal levels. Last year, the group was at the forefront for ‘The Token Taxonomy Act, ’ which did not include cryptocurrencies in the official ‘Securities’ definition.

It is worth mentioning that the association consistently lobbies in front of the United States government to introduce a conducive environment for the cryptocurrency and develop an ecosystem that promotes its mainstream adoption. According to estimates, around $42M was spent on cryptocurrency-related lobbying by various groups in the first quarter of 2019.

The Blockchain Association’s executive director, Kristin Smith, commented that including more members into the association will help increase the inclusiveness of the cryptocurrencies and bring more transparency to the system.

New robust systems must be built to meet the growing needs of tomorrow’s savvy digital population. Stellar will bring new technologies to the blockchain fold, helping gain the trust of the common populace.

Cryptocurrency lobbying reaches new heights

Efforts are on to reach lawmakers who support cryptocurrencies to boost mainstream crypto adoption. The current strict regulations are harming the growth of the crypto industry. The regulatory bodies are working against the digital token industry.

However, blockchain lobbying groups are also working to make sure that the industry doesn’t suffer from strict regulatory and authoritative controls.

Recently, Ripple joined the Blockchain Association to help in the fight against overtly strict regulatory controls on the crypto industry. When Stellar joins Blockchain Association, things are sure to move fast towards crypto-friendly regulations.

source https://www.cryptopolitan.com/stellar-jo...sociation/
by Gurpreet Thind

Read More, Posted by: crytocure

Stellar’s Jed McCaleb Says His XRP Sell-Off Won’t Disrupt Crypto Market

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A recent Medium post from blockchain monitor Whale Alert showed that Stellar CTO Jed McCaleb sold off more than 1 billion XRP between 2014 and 2019. The post attempted to analyze whether or not McCaleb’s sale of XRP will affect the price of the crypto. Whale Alert noted that compared with other total trade volumes per day, the amount McCaleb is selling seems insignificant.

Following up on this, McCaleb told Cointelegraph in an interview that it’s strange that so many people are focused on his recent trading of XRP, noting that others have sold much more in comparison. He said:

Quote:
“I have been transparent from the beginning. The market has known for years that I have been selling my XRP at a slow, steady rate. My investment decisions are not based on any desire to negatively impact other companies in this industry. I think the history to date shows there is no impact on the market, and I don’t see any reason why that will change.”

McCaleb, who served as the co-founder of Ripple until 2013 and is now the CTO of Stellar (XLM), also responded to assumptions that he was dumping XRP to hurt Ripple. McCaleb mentioned that he doesn’t view different blockchain networks to be in competition with one another. He explained:

Quote:
“We’re all working towards making blockchain a viable, transformative industry. I think we can do that more effectively if we’re supportive of others in the space. For my part, I’m focused on growing the Stellar ecosystem.”

Ripple comments on McCaleb’s seven-year agreement

On Aug. 14, 2014, Ripple wrote a post on a company forum explaining McCaleb’s settlement of his XRP earnings. The article details how XRP was distributed among Ripple’s original founders, noting that 20 billion XRP was divided among those individuals.

McCaleb stated that his intention was to sell his portion of XRP. In turn, Ripple Labs engaged with McCaleb to enter a seven-year contract that would ensure the responsible distribution of his XRP stake in a way that would help grow the Ripple ecosystem. A Ripple spokesperson told Cointelegraph:

Quote:
“In 2016, we entered into a very structured agreement with Jed with the goal of ensuring distribution of his XRP holdings in service to a healthy, growing ecosystem without market disruption, with Ripple as custodian of Jed's XRP holdings. This agreement remains in place today. Much of this information is publicly available.”

Interestingly, while Ripple posted about the agreement on the company forum in August 2014, Ripple told Cointelegraph that this was replaced with an updated 2016 agreement. This means that McCaleb’s seven-year agreement with Ripple won’t end until 2023.

Whale Alert noted in its blog post that McCaleb’s agreement will expire this year (based on the 2014 blog post). Whale Alert also hypothesized that McCaleb’s XRP profits are being cashed out directly through Bitstamp. However, McCaleb told Cointelegprah that he is selling his XRP on Ripple’s internal exchange.

XRP’s price analyzed

While McCaleb claims that his recent selling of XRP has not impacted XRP’s market price, others beg to differ. Founder of Quantum Economics and senior market analyst at eToro, Mati Greenspan, told Cointelegraph that McCaleb’s XRP sales are likely a reason XRP has been underperforming lately. He said:

Quote:
“Price is a simple matter of overall volumes on the buy-side versus overall volumes on the sell-side. So, more tokens sold definitely causes downward pressure on the price, especially when we're talking about large amounts.”

Although logistically this may be the case, an anonymous, well-informed source told Cointelegraph that McCaleb hasn’t been selling enough XRP to impact its price and that, overall, altcoins have been performing better than usual lately.

source https://cointelegraph.com/news/stellars-...pto-market
by Rachel Wolfson

Read More, Posted by: crytocure

XRP and XLM Have Highest Level of Wealth Inequality Among Top Cryptocurrencies:

XRP and XLM Have Highest Level of Wealth Inequality Among Top Cryptocurrencies: CoinMetrics Report

XRP and XLM create a non-level playing field for its holders, according to a recent CoinMetrics study

Wealth inequality is a hot-button issue around the globe. With an extreme concentration of coins and tokens in the hands of omnipotent whales, crypto clearly fails to address this problem.

According to Coin Metrics' latest 'State of the Network' issue, XRP and Stellar (XLM) have the highest disparity of wealth among some of the top blockchains. The later takes the cake when it comes to inequality with whales that hold at least 1/1K of the total supply controlling a whopping 95 percent of all tokens.

Centralization concerns

There is nothing shocking about XRP and XLM occupying the two top spots given that both of these cryptocurrencies are routinely criticized for being extremely centralized.

Ripple Labs fully controls nearly 60 percent of XRP's total supply. To put this into perspective, the company's former CEO Chris Larsen personally owns 5.19 billion XRP.

The same applies to the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) that holds more than 50 percent of all tokens and pocketed 98 percent of all inflation payouts on top of that.

Bitcoin's increasing distribution

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) appears to be the most egalitarian cryptocurrency in terms of supply distribution. The richest whales hold only 11 percent of all orange coins, a world of difference compared to the altcoins analyzed by CoinMetrics.

Ethereum (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC) are at 46 percent and 40 percent respectively.

The firm pointed out that the increasing level of distribution is a positive development for BTC since it underscores its growing adoption.

source https://u.today/xrp-and-xlm-have-highest...ics-report
by Alex Dovbnya

Read More, Posted by: crytocure

Proof-Of-Stake Isn’t Broken. Why Are So Many People Trying To Fix It?

Practically every platform that emerges these days claims to have come up with a new and unique consensus model that solves all the problems of its predecessors. Undeniably, proof-of-work (PoW) has issues, including speed and scalability, which were known since the beginning of Bitcoin. The extreme energy consumption is a problem that emerged later, as mining became a more lucrative proposition.

Proof-of-stake (PoS) emerged as an elegant solution that could address some of these challenges. When combined with other innovations such as a multi-chain architecture and transaction pruning, pretty much all of the challenges of a linear PoW blockchain can be overcome.

PoS Attacks – Theoretical, But Not Practical

The major arguments that people use against PoS are based on theoretical scenarios that have never come to fruition on any PoS blockchain. Nxt was among the first PoS blockchain, and in the 6.5 years it has been in operation, nobody has ever executed a successful nothing-at-stake attack.

There are two reasons for this. Firstly, any would-be attacker would need to successfully override the underlying software, which force-selects the best fork based on the stake invested.

Secondly, even if this could be overridden, the attacker would need to control over 50% of the network tokens. Only then would they stand a good enough chance of being picked to forge the next block for long enough to execute a double-spend successfully.

Similar software-based controls can be put in place against long-range attacks. For example, creating a checkpoint every x blocks can reconcile any fork against the current state of the blockchain and reject it if it contains discrepancies.

In the case of either a nothing-at-stake attack or a long-range attack, the risk is roughly the same as Bitcoin facing a 51% attack. While it’s not an impossibility, it’s so difficult, or expensive, or both, that it’s all but impossible.

This practical reality means that the penalties for double-voting or wrong voting introduced by models like Ethereum’s Casper are unnecessary. In fact, they may only serve to alienate stakers who are being penalized for making a simple mistake by voting on the wrong fork.

So, if we’ve proved that proof of stake works, why is everyone still trying to “fix” consensus? Furthermore, many of the attempts to construct elaborate governance models around the simplicity of a working PoS are actually introducing more problems.

Too Much Complexity

Among the later iterations of PoS are delegated proof-of-stake (dPoS,) used by EOS, Cardano’s slot elections, or the “liquid” proof-of-stake deployed by Tezos. In general, these involve token holders casting votes or delegating their voting rights to others.

Most of these iterations do little more than introduce additional complexity for network stakeholders. Even worse, they open up a whole raft of issues that wouldn’t occur in a traditional centralized model.

For example, EOS has come under fire for being too centralized, with allegations of vote-buying and vote-trading among the larger token holders. This was happening within months of the EOS mainnet launch. A governance model that became so easily corrupted can hardly claim to be superior to one used by blockchains that have been running for years without incident.

Furthermore, these complicated governance constructs create a risk of bugs. The more programming needed for the implementation, the bigger the risk that the code will have vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malicious actors.

The Dangers Of Staking Pools

The complexities involved in these newer models have led to a proliferation of staking pools. These pools supposedly exist to make it easier for users to navigate the staking process and encourage participation.

However, the other side of the argument is that staking pools are an issue waiting to happen. In the blockchain space, we’ve already seen every conceivable type of scam covering everything from fake ICOs to exchange hacks to Ponzi schemes. How long is it going to be before some users find they aren’t going to get their fair share of profits from a staking pool? Even the most honest actors operating a staking pool will want to keep a portion of profits for themselves.

Staking pools also further compound the issue of centralization already introduced by the leader election model. If all token holders are participating via staking pools because it’s easier and more passive, then many are unlikely to take advantage of their voting rights. Active stakers care about the future of the network, beyond just taking a share of profits.

Finally, the very existence of staking pools is a tacit admission that voter-based staking models are too complicated. After all, if the average user can easily navigate the staking process, why would they want or need to participate in a staking pool that’s likely to erode their profits and voting rights?

If It Ain’t Broke

The human “complexity bias” is a real psychological phenomenon. When presented with two choices, we naturally veer towards the most complicated one. This is evident when we consider the tendency within the blockchain community to reject a straightforward PoS solution in favor of a more convoluted construct.

But in the context of blockchain, giving in to this tendency could end up actively damaging adoption. If the technology is to survive in the long term, we should be removing barriers. That means keeping it simple and not fixing what isn’t broken.

source https://cryptodaily.co.uk/2020/02/proof-...ken-fix-it
by Lior Yaffe

Read More, Posted by: crytocure

Cannabis Buzz Harshed by Regulations, Cash Shortage While Cryptocurrency Is Ready

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Cannabis Buzz Harshed by Regulations, Cash Shortage While Cryptocurrency Is Ready to Light Up

Recent reports show that major marijuana companies are running out of money, and businesses in Canada are especially in danger of becoming illiquid. Major producers in the weed-friendly nation have just over 6 months of cash on hand, according to the information, and comparable companies in the U.S. just over one year of liquidity. In the U.S. the falling cannabis stocks and sluggish market present an even greater threat, since companies cannot file bankruptcy as the plant is still illegal under federal law. All this seems to beg the question: where is crypto in these trying times?

Businesses Running Out of Weed Money, Black Market Still Thriving

The recent wave of cannabis legalization across the United States and Canada brought with it a surge in cannabis company stock prices and high hopes of big money and a thriving industry. Some also speculated legalization would curtail black market spending. The outcome however, has been a hard comedown for many in the sector, where only the biggest players able to pay for necessary compliance measures, overhead and other fees can compete and secure funding.

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Many companies have not been able to keep up with demand or establish locations convenient to their customers due to laws and regulations. As BBC News Toronto’s Robin Levinson-King reported in December:

Quote:
Red tape and a cap on the number of cannabis retail outlets have made rollout slow. Retail licenses were awarded by lottery, and the province held the number of licenses at 24, to serve a population of 14.5m.

A recent article from Bloomberg, citing a report on liquidity in the industry, claims the most endangered company is Canada’s Aurora Cannabis Inc., with only 2.3 months of cash remaining. A previous report from the same outlet shows cannabis stocks tumbling since a peak in spring 2019, resulting in a scramble by companies to take cover from incoming calls on their debts.

Meanwhile, the black market is able to provide enough product, locations, and customized service to result in the majority of Canadians still preferring to use illegal cannabis.

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As of December, Statistics Canada maintains that about 75% of users still use illegal marijuana, according to Levinson-King’s report. This is no surprise, really, given the inefficient nature of government central planning, but even with these dreary numbers and regulatory challenges, it seems that major cannabis companies — as well as alternative markets — could benefit from greater integration of crypto solutions. With bankruptcy proceedings for some groups already underway, one wonders what these companies have to lose by trying to target the crypto segment.

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The Canna-Market Has Spoken, Prefers Decentralized Solutions

Aside from the obvious utility of crypto for purchasing marijuana on darknet marketplaces, the bitcoin and cannabis spaces have great potential synergy even above ground, in legally compliant situations. As news.Bitcoin.com reported back in September, a Berkeley City council member purchased cannabis with bitcoin cash at a local dispensary, and key benefits of crypto were discussed at the demonstration.

Assets like BCH can provide vendors a way to save on transaction fees, when customers pay with these assets in lieu of credit cards and other e-payment systems. Cryptocurrencies also help with access to banking services not provided by many traditional banks, pressured by legal restrictions to avoid businesses in the cannabis industry. With mounting bankruptcy cases, lack of banking services, and remarkable inability to meet customer demand, it seems high time lawmakers and regulators fired up a bowl of their own, perhaps, and reconsidered.

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Not only do the crypto and cannabis communities share a significant cultural overlap, but in Canada and the U.S. most consumers have already voted with their money to support alternative markets, as they provide better service.

Decentralized money such as bitcoin — like decentralized cannabis dealers — provides convenience and customization of the purchase process. Should governments want to get in on this cash cow, acceptance of crypto and a relinquishing of neurotic central planning of the industry seems to be a must.

source https://news.bitcoin.com/cannabis-regula...ocurrency/
by Graham Smith

Read More, Posted by: crytocure

Stellar (XLM) Registers 17% Hike in the Last 30 Days

Stellar cryptocurrency is popularly known for its hasty movement. However, the coin was spotted pacing itself in the last 30-days. In the last ten days of January, XLM coin experienced a tight hold of around $0.062. The pressure lightened at the beginning of February. The coin began improvement since then and even it marked the 30-days high around $0.0872.
The same is also taken as 90-days high. The future of the XLM coin would be flourishing. The traders can dig-in with a high prospect.

Stellar Price Analysis

XLM coin started at $0.06118 on January 19, and then, the price escalated to $0.0660 by 8.02%. The currency dropped to $0.0574 by 13.54% on the same day. Later, the Stellar price improved to $0.0645 by 12% hike in the next day. After this hike, the coin price dropped to $0.0552 on January 24. From this low, XLM price started improvement and reached to 0.0625 in the next 5 days. The coin dribbled to $0.0605 but recovered again and escalated to $0.0658.

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The first four days of February were spotted under moderate pressure. However, the Stellar price recovered and touched $0.0733 from $0.0620. After reaching this high, the currency managed to remain at the same level for a while and then dropped to $0.0692. From February 11, the XLM coin price escalated to $0.0873 by a massive hike of 26.09%. The price was seen hovering around $0.0854 from February 12 to 15. Thereafter, Stellar coin was spotted, marking a steep fall and reached $0.0680. Recently, the price recovered and touched $0.0714. In these 30 days, XLM coin marked a 17% progression in the price. At the time of writing this analysis, the Stellar currency was showing upside momentum. The price might be seen surging to the immediate resistance at $0.075 in the coming hours.

Resistance & Support Levels

R1: $0.07527, R2: $0.07869 and R3: $0.08235

S1: $0.06819, S2: $0.06453 and S3: $0.06111

source https://www.coinnewsspan.com/stellar-xlm...t-30-days/
by Lili Chuang

Read More, Posted by: crytocure

The Crypto Anthem Ft. David Verity

As we come into a new decade, we have seen many things that have excited the community including what many believe to be a new Bull Run. What better way to celebrate this than the release of the first official Crypto Anthem, dedicated to the crypto community as a whole. Referencing well over 50 projects this song breaks the record for the most projects ever mentioned in a single professional song. It aims to bring the community together and break down barriers put up by certain individuals and projects, creating a more uplifting and positive environment.

The Need for Crypto Anthem

There are constant issues surrounding crypto twitter and other crypto communities in relation to project rivalry, scams, false claims and accusations that can sometimes be quite toxic. This song hopes to drive past all these problems and focus on what really matters, crypto is here and here to stay. It doesn’t matter if your platform has more dApps on it, or your project creates a better social media following. What matters is that we are all pioneers in an emerging technology that will revolutionize the world.

Released on Feb 17th, aelf, who sponsored the song creation, also announced they are sponsoring numerous community events that will run over the next few weeks to help ensure the song reaches every corner of the cryptoverse. Aelf announced that the combined prize pool is over $1000 USD. The main contest consists of a $300 USD prize, which has been offered to the first person to name every project referenced in the song – BTCManager has been advised that details are to be announced shortly.

Initially, the song is to be released on Youtube, but if successful, Mapperson said he will look at a gradual release on other music hosting platforms such as Spotify and iTunes. He also hopes there will be an interest for remixes and new music videos for the song in the future.

The song features David Verity, who has had success with a #1 song on Billboard, performed at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and with Grammy-Award winning artists like Toby Gad and Marvin Moore. He has also signed deals with Universal Music Group and Japanese mega-corporation JVC. The collaboration between mainstream artists and the cryptocurrency industry is another step towards blockchain adoption around the world.

This song is sure to receive attention from many of the main projects due to the clear references of projects such as Bitcoin, ethereum, Binance, EOS, Dash, Litecoin and many others.

source https://btcmanager.com/the-crypto-anthem...d-verity/&
by Aisshwarya Tiwari

Read More, Posted by: crytocure

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