Day: February 7, 2020

CME Bitcoin Futures Hit $10K as BTC Price Finally Nears Five Figures

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Bitcoin (BTC) crossed the $10,000 mark for swathes of institutional investors this week as markets looked increasingly likely to surge higher still. Bitcoin 7-day price chart. Source: Coin360 CME reaches $10K per Bitcoin Data from CME Group’s Bitcoin futures shows the implied price of Bitcoin reaching the symbolic five figures on Feb. 6.  Since then, a slight correction has sent BTC/USD a shade lower — it currently trades at $9,800, while CME’s futures are hovering around $9,900. CME Bitcoin futures 2-week chart. Source: TradingView Considerable enthusiasm has accompanied sustained price…

Bitcoin Blockchain Daily Confirmed Transactions Hit 5-Month High

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Hot on the heels of surpassing the 500 million transaction milestone, Bitcoin (BTC)’s daily confirmed transactions (txs) are soaring too. The latest available data on Blockchain.com, for Feb. 6, indicates 315,370 daily txs on the blockchain, and 368,604 on Feb. 5. These are levels not seen since early Sept. 2019 — though they still stop short of a 2019 peak in May, which saw the network breaking above 450,000 txs daily. Daily confirmed txs on the Bitcoin blockchain, Feb. 2019-Feb. 2020. Source: blockchain.com Green across the board Meanwhile, markets are…

Bitcoin Has Erased Over 45% of 2019 Sell-Off in Just 7 Weeks

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Bitcoin is continuing to pile on the gains. The number one cryptocurrency by market value rose to a three-month high of $9,859 during the U.S. trading hours on Thursday and was last seen trading at $9,801, according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index. With the surge to multi-month highs, bitcoin has recovered a significant portion of the ground lost in the second half of 2019. Bitcoin’s bull move from the April 2019 low of $4,100 topped out at $13,880 at the end of June. The bears seized control in July and…

Coronavirus Concerns Cause Another Crypto Event to Be Postponed

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With the new coronavirus now having killed a reported 638 people, most of them in China, the ramifications of the outbreak are continuing to affect lives and businesses in the region. And the cryptocurrency industry is no exception. According to an announcement on Thursday, the TOKEN2049 crypto conference, planned to be held in Hong Kong on March 17-18, has now been pushed back to October over concerns about the outbreak. “Over the past weeks, we have been monitoring the global developments around the Coronavirus closely. Whilst Hong Kong is managing…

Blockchain Payments Platform Paystand Raises $20M in Series B Round

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Paystand has successfully raised $20 million in its Series B funding round, VentureBeat and others reported on Feb. 6. The company will use this money to accelerate the growth of its blockchain-based commercial payment platform. The current round includes investment from DNX Ventures, Battery Ventures, Epic Ventures, Commerce Ventures and Wildcat Ventures. Existing investors Leap Global Partners, BlueRun Ventures and others also participated. The company will use the funds to expand its teams in Scotts Valley, California and Guadalajara, Mexico, as well as funding the expansion of its product lines.…

You Can Now Use Cryptocurrency to Trade ‘TRUMP-2020’ Futures

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Cryptocurrency derivatives exchange FTX has created a new, specialized futures contract for traders to bet on President Donal Trump’s reelection in 2020. Dubbed TRUMP-2020 (TRUMP), FTX announced on Feb. 5 that the contract expires to $1 if Donald Trump wins the 2020 US presidential general election, and $0 if otherwise. The launch of TRUMP coincides with a fresh poll from Gallup this week, suggesting that the President’s job approval rating has risen to 49% — his highest in any Gallup polling since he took office in 2017.  Among Republicans, moreover,…

Bitcoin.com, Danal Japan and ALLEX Partner up to Offer BCH Payment Services

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Danal Japan Co., Ltd. (CEO: Riichi Omura), which develops mobile payment systems and a financial settlement infrastructure business, ALLEX, a Standard Capital company that develops security token exchange and STO businesses (Representative: TAISEI YAMAGUCHI), Bitcoin.com (Representative: Roger Ver), which provides Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).We are pleased to announce that a business alliance has been concluded among the three companies in order to implement the payment services by BCH. Enhancement of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) payment service, which is used for payments at EC sites and restaurants, is cheaper…

RSK Launches Interoperability Bridge Between Bitcoin and Ethereum

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The parent company behind the bitcoin-based smart contract platform RSK has launched a new token bridge joining it to ethereum. Gibraltar-based developer IOV Labs announced Wednesday that the newly released interoperability bridge would allow users to cross RSK- and ethereum-based digital assets, including ether and ERC-20 tokens, across the different protocols. When a user transfers tokens, the bridge’s smart contract locks the originals and mints a corresponding amount of new tokens on the other chain. Using the system, ether-based tokens can be transformed into RSK’s RRC20 tokens, which conversely can…

Value Locked in Crypto DeFi Markets Hits $1 Billion Milestone

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With Ether (ETH) breaking through the $200 mark yesterday, $1 billion in value is now locked in the DeFi markets.  Total value locked in DeFi markets, Feb. 7. Source: defipulse.com As of Feb. 7, ETH is trading close to $220 — up 4.5% on the day and almost 22% on the week. Broadly speaking, DeFi is shorthand for decentralized finance, referring to the use of blockchain, digital assets and smart contracts in financial services such as credit and lending. According to analytics site Defipulse.com, the $1 billion locked in the…

Japanese Lawmakers Want US to Place Digital Currencies on G7 Agenda

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Japan is feeling the pressure of China’s strident moves forward with a digital yuan.  According to a Feb. 7 Reuters report, top lawmakers in the country are calling on their government to push for digital currencies to be placed on the G7’s agenda this year. Akira Amari — former economy minister and a prominent member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party —  told a group of lawmakers convened to discuss the matter that: “Japan should work in close coordination with the United States. As part of such efforts, we should…