Ethereum and Altcoins Market Cap Flash Bullish Possibilities as Bitcoin Price Wavers

The most recent Bitcoin price drop caused many altcoins to drop heavily, but can one say that they are doing poorly or is it only their USD pairs which are affected? Since a temporary bottom was found at the start of September, altcoins have steadily gained value in their BTC pairings. Take the following, for example: ETH/BTC is up +32%, XRP/BTC +27% and XLM/BTC has gained +29% during this time.  Let’s take a closer look at the altcoin market to investigate what is happening. Altcoins total market capitalization chart. Source:…

Galaxy Digital and XBTO Making First Block Trade of Bakkt Bitcoin Futures

Cryptocurrency investment fund Galaxy Digital and over-the-counter (OTC) trading firm XBTO announced they have managed to organize the first block trade ever of Bakkt’s Bitcoin futures contract. In the announcement, Bakkt’s parent company, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), said the deal is done but hasn’t disclosed any further details (as price or size). Trabue Bland, President of ICE Futures U.S said that since it launched last week, the Bakkt Bitcoin Futures has achieved several milestones, including first physical delivery of Bitcoin against a futures contract, and now the first block trade. He…

Bitcoin.com Launches Games Stars Leaderboard – Win BTC Every Week

To introduce a new flavor to the ever exciting online gaming experience at games.bitcoin.com, we are launching a fresh new promotion where you can win BTC worth $200 every week. The Games Stars promotion sets the stage for 10 players to win from a prize pool of $1000 each week. Launched on 16th September, Games Stars is a leaderboard promotion exclusive to the in-demand games of Slots, Roulette, Keno and Satoshi Circle at Bitcoin Games. With the first prize of $200, the top 10 winners will stake their claim at…

Bitcoin Is 2019’s Best-Performing Asset, Even After Recent Price Downturn

The Takeaway Bitcoin prices have more than doubled in 2019, far outpacing the 31 percent return for U.S. tech stocks, which Goldman Sachs deems the best-performing asset class year-to-date. Outsize returns could attract interest from big investors in the yield-starved traditional financial markets. Executives at data firm Messari say bitcoin prices, currently around $8,200, could rally to a new high in the year’s remaining months, topping the $12,902 level reached in June. Investors would be hard-pressed to name a better-performing asset class so far in 2019 than bitcoin. Gold? Up…

Bitcoin Is 2019’s Best-Performing Asset, Even After Recent Price Downturn

The Takeaway Bitcoin prices have more than doubled in 2019, far outpacing the 31 percent return for U.S. tech stocks, which Goldman Sachs deems the best-performing asset class year-to-date. Outsize returns could attract interest from big investors in the yield-starved traditional financial markets. Executives at data firm Messari say bitcoin prices, currently around $8,200, could rally to a new high in the year’s remaining months, topping the $12,902 level reached in June. Investors would be hard-pressed to name a better-performing asset class so far in 2019 than bitcoin. Gold? Up…

Chainalysis Adds ERC-20 Tokens to Its On-Demand Compliance Service

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has announced the launch of its on-demand compliance and investigations software for several Ethereum (ETH)-based ERC-20 tokens. The company announced in a press release published on Oct. 3 that its Know Your Transaction (KYT) tool now supports tokens such as Basic Attention Token (BAT), DAI, GoldX, Maker (MKR), OmiseGO (OMG) and 0x (ZRX). Aggressive support expansion Furthermore, the company also announced plans to roll out support for 23 additional cryptocurrencies, including XRP, DASH, unshielded ZCash (ZEC), Dogecoin (DOGE) and Ethereum Classic (ETC) over the next three…

US Response to Facebook’s Libra Is ‘Ridiculous,’ says Coinbase CEO

Brian Armstrong, CEO and co-founder of major crypto exchange Coinbase, tweeted on Oct. 5 that he expects the United States government to react to China’s stablecoin project by reconsidering its “ridiculous” response to Facebook’s Libra digital currency. The U.S. government wants to be left behind In his tweet, Armstrong said he believes that “the way the U.S. government reacted it’s like they almost want to be left behind.” He also voiced overall concerns over the United States possibly becoming obsolete due to innovation obstruction in a subsequent tweet: “The way…

Æternity Blockchain Brings ‘Liquid Democracy’ to Uruguay

Open source decentralized application (DApp)-focused blockchain Æternity will team up with the Uruguay Digital Party to optimize the country’s democratic processes and internal voting. According to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Oct. 3, the partnership aims to build a new system whereby Uruguay citizens and members of the Digital Party can participate in various political decisions in a transparent and decentralized manner. Unalterable liquid democracy Per the release, the first phase of the project will focus on creating a DApp based on the “liquid democracy” model that employs…

Data Shows Institutional Interest in Bitcoin Has Diminished

Last spring and the beginning of summer 2019 saw digital asset markets spike considerably in value, and many speculators assumed the rise was due to institutional investors. However, BTC and a variety of other popular digital asset prices started plummeting in August. Reports now detail that institutional interest is waning and new data that analyzed the collaboration between institutions and cryptocurrency headlines has dropped significantly. Moreover, the highly anticipated Bakkt futures launch didn’t match the initial hype. The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) physically-settled bitcoin futures products continue to see low volumes…

Hacker Returns Ethereum Domains Obtained in Auction Bug

The hacker who stole 17 Ethereum domain names during the Ethereum Name Service’s (ENS) auction decided to return them all. The promise of hefty compensation On Oct. 4, digital-collectibles marketplace OpenSea said that all of the stolen ENS names were returned successfully and that bidding on domain names will restart again in the coming weeks.  In the beginning of September, the ENS bidding process was exploited by a hacker who managed to steal 17 domain names for lower bids than other users placed. OpenSea, who ran the auction, explained that…