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Ocean Protocol Token OCEAN Trades on Bittrex International after Successful IEO

2019-05-02T16:44:00.001-07:00

May 3rd 2019, Singapore – Ocean Protocol (CURRENCY: OCEAN) will begin trading on Bittrex International today (May 3) at 19:00 CEST / 17:00 UTC. The Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) started on April 30 and 70% of OCEAN tokens were sold under the first 5 minutes with 56.4 million tokens up on offer. OCEAN tokens will be unlocked two hours before listing on Bittrex International.

Ocean Protocol is the world’s first general purpose data sharing platform powered by blockchain technology with a mission to provide safe, privacy-preserving and borderless data sharing to unlock the Data Economy. It is a decentralized platform that enables anyone to build data services, AI services and marketplaces on top, connecting individuals, industries, startups, governments, academia, and data and AI experts.

The Ocean Vision

OCEAN Token is the native digital currency that will be used in the Ocean Protocol network and ecosystem. All data exchanges and services rendered in the ecosystem will be processed, transacted with, or fueled by OCEAN.

“It is rewarding to see the community get behind our vision for a new Data Economy and believing in Ocean Protocol,” said Bruce Pon, founder of Ocean Protocol.

“The Ocean Protocol team will continue to deliver software and network updates over the next two years, with five phases planned, each providing more sophisticated features, incentives and enhanced performance.”

To support and start this new data economy, Ocean Protocol has partnered with industry incumbents and startups to demonstrate how the safe sharing of data can help advance industries and improve people’s well-being. In the Insurance sector, Aviva and ConnectedLife are applying data analytics and artificial intelligence on smart home data to enhance the protection and care for the ageing population and support independent living; while in Healthcare, Roche Diagnostics is exploring ways to improve care for patients on blood-thinning therapy. In Retail, Next Billion is piloting a new data sharing model that rewards rural store owners for contributing sales data. In the academic space, Ocean Protocol is collaborating with AI Singapore to drive innovative programmes that empower AI talents to conduct advanced research and bring it to practice.

To register a Bittrex International account, go to https://international.bittrex.com

About Ocean Protocol

Ocean Protocol is a decentralized data exchange protocol to unlock data for AI. Through blockchain technology, smart contracts, and tokens, Ocean Protocol connects data providers and consumers, allowing data to be shared while guaranteeing traceability, transparency, and trust for all stakeholders involved. It allows data owners to give value to and have control over their data assets without being locked-in to any single marketplace. By bringing together decentralized blockchain technology, a data sharing framework, and an ecosystem for data and related services, Ocean Protocol is committed to kick-starting a new Data Economy that touches every single person, company and device, giving power back to data owners, enabling people to reap value from data to better our world. Visit oceanprotocol.com to find out more.

About Bittrex International

Bittrex International operates a secure, reliable and advanced digital asset platform built on Bittrex’s cutting-edge trading technology. Our mission is to be a driving force in the blockchain revolution, increasing adoption of this innovative technology around the world. This international trading platform operates within the regulatory framework established by the European Union and Maltese Government, including the Malta Virtual Financial Assets Act. The company will apply to the Malta Financial Services Authority to become a regulated Virtual Financial Asset exchange. Learn more at https://International.Bittrex.com.

For more information, visit the website: www.oceanprotocol.com

Join the conversation on Twitter: https://twitter.com/oceanprotocol

Chat on Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/GUyxrE0Hi154D0NrlOqLFg

Connect on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/13429589/

Check out the Ocean blog: https://blog.oceanprotocol.com/

Media Contact Details

Contact Name: Patty Lee

Contact Email: patty@oceanprotocol.com

Ocean Protocol is the source of this content. Virtual currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and accounts and value balances are not subject to consumer protections. Cryptocurrencies and tokens are extremely volatile. There is no guarantee of a stable value, or of any value at all. Token sales are only suitable for individuals with a high risk tolerance. This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored press release

The post Ocean Protocol Token OCEAN Trades on Bittrex International after Successful IEO appeared first on NullTX.

May 03, 2019 at 05:04AM

8 Key Tips That Every Single Cryptocurrency Trader Needs to Know

2019-05-02T14:55:00.001-07:00

Even though we’re now several years into cryptocurrency becoming somewhat mainstream, although the hype has worn off, the digital, decentralized monetary format is still very much a big earner for people around the world, more commonly known as cryptocurrency traders.

As a cryptocurrency trader yourself, you’ve probably witnessed the highs and lows of the market yourself, or even if you’re just getting started, you’ll look for the best way to make a start. With this in mind, today we’re going to help you get going.

Below, we’re going to explore eight essential need-to-know tips to help you make the most in your cryptocurrency trading career, ensuring you have the best and most profitable experience.

#1 – It’s Just Getting Started

Although lots of people have heard of Bitcoin or might have seen it on the news, it’s not fully integrated into society just yet, and there’s only a real minority of people out there who actually use cryptocurrencies daily.

That means there’s so much room for progression in the future, and if people start using them more and more and, perhaps one day they become the primary financing method, it could be such a great investment to make now.

#2 – Bitcoin Isn’t the Only Cryptocurrency

As we’ve mentioned already, a lot of people think Bitcoin when they hear the term ‘cryptocurrency’, but this is simply scratching the surface of what’s actually out there. Of course, there are a ton of hopeful cryptocurrencies that exist for a bit, get very hyped up and then fade away, but there are potentially thousands of other opportunities that could make it.

In short, don’t just restrict yourself to a single cryptocurrency, and especially not just Bitcoin. There are plenty of opportunities out there to look into.

#3 – Be Careful with Your Choices

Hand in hand with the consideration above, it’s estimated, like many dotcom companies, that around 80% of altcoins and cryptocurrencies will not survive, and sooner or later, a select few (the 20%) will dominate the market, and that will be all there is.

This all happens because the investors and users of a certain altcoin will become super-excited about the hype surrounding an altcoin, rather than looking at the real, numerical value that is created. As an investor or crypto-trader, it’s vital to do your research.

#4 – Money to Cryptocurrency

Although we’re spending a lot of time talking about cryptocurrencies, remember that cryptocurrency can be withdrawn in the physical world as cash, and visa versa. This means that you can actively use your cryptocurrencies as a way to store money and look after it. You have fluidity between the two.

#5 – Remember How You Profit

It’s so vital to remember that, at the end of the day, the only way you’re going to make money as a cryptocurrency trader is when you actually sell your cryptocurrencies. Of course, this is the same with any kind of trading, but it’s important to be mindful of market fluctuations and figuring out the best time to sell.

For example, if you had invested in Bitcoin and the value skyrocketed as it did, you probably would have felt amazing during that time; but remember, those gains aren’t actually profiting until you make the sale.

#6 – Use Authentic Sources

There are a lot of websites, blogs, magazines and services that all claim to be able to produce the content that will keep you up to with the latest news, tips and information. Some of these websites and publications can be extremely helpful, but it’s so important to make sure these websites are genuine.

If you’re getting your information from illegitimate and untrustworthy sources, your results are going to be the same, so make sure you’re researching in the right places and choosing legit sources that are actually going to help you.

#7 – Cryptocurrency Solves Problems

Perhaps one of the most important things you’ll want to remember is the fact that cryptocurrencies exist in the world to help address or solve a problem. Just betting on a currency and hoping for the best and that it will take off is the biggest risk you can take.

Instead, look for cryptocurrencies that are designed to help bring benefits to the world. The bigger the benefit, the more likely it is to increase in value and the more money you’ll make back.

#8 – Monitor Your Emotions

Thinking about you as an individual for my final point, currency trading can be an extremely emotional career path, especially when you’re on huge highs and low losses. It’s easy to make a split-second decision you’re going to regret, so don’t let it get that far!

Summary

As you can see, there are lots of things for you to think about when it comes to being a cryptocurrency trader, and plenty of things to think about. The most important thing to remember is to educate yourself and remember, don’t get caught up in the hype. Good luck!

Nora Mork is a business and marketing journalist at Write my essay for me agency. She shares her experience by speaking at public events and writing posts for magazines and blogs, such as Boom Essays and Essay Roo.

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

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May 03, 2019 at 03:22AM

Bitcoin Price Touches $5,500 as Uptrend Remains in Place

2019-05-02T12:34:00.001-07:00

In the volatile world of cryptocurrency, everything stands or falls with Bitcoin. While altcoins may show some independent momentum now and then, it won’t fool experienced traders in the slightest. As of right now, the Bitcoin price is moving up ever so slightly, as the $5,500 level has come into play again.

Can the Bitcoin Price Sustain the Growth?

To date, it has been a rather interesting year for Bitcoin in many different ways. After overcoming a major price retrace, it would appear the world’s leading cryptocurrency is moving in the right direction again. Although the $5,600 level might not necessarily be retaken this week, it seems unlikely a drop below $5,000 will materialize, which is what most people are interested in.

Over the past 24 hours, the Bitcoin price has gained 2.08%, which is more than respectable. This gain allowed the BTC value to briefly surpass $5,500 again, although it seems likely that will remain a level of contention for some time to come. It is a more than interesting gain regardless, especially with the weekend not that far off.

The opinions regarding this price increase are all over the place on Twitter. Andres Mejia is quite pleased with his Bitcoin trades, primarily because he appears to be growing his balance quite nicely so far. Although these are only small amounts, one often has to start out small prior to entering the big leagues.

one of many successful operations. #Bitcoin is the future pic.twitter.com/ptSe3VXLF5

— Andres Mejia (@andresmeve) May 2, 2019

Marc Friedrich, on the other hand, seems to keep an interesting opinion on gold, Bitcoin, and fiat currency. In fact, he wonders why people don’t dump fiat currency, which is in a bubble of its own. Other bubble assets on his list include shares, ETFs, real estate, and so forth. Very intriguing thoughts which are not that easy to counter.

I think it’s wrong! #Gold is the older brother of #bitcoin. Why not dump fiat? Or overpriced bubble assets like shares, ETFs, real estate?

— marc friedrich (@marcfriedrich7) May 2, 2019

Kelyoss is looking at the Bitcoin chart with some degree of high expectations. However, he also acknowledges there is some bearish pressure when looking on the 4-hour chart, albeit the daily chart seems to indicate this uptrend may have some life to it after all. Anything can happen in this industry at all times.

#Bitcoin, Here's what i see ascending wedge on 4H with tenkan far from the price and under the cloud with soon a vis à vis. I'm more bearish but on 1D still in the trend. Waiting a candle confirmation. #cryptocurrency pic.twitter.com/CwMkcRuzKh

— Kelyoss (@CKelyoss) May 2, 2019

When Bitcoin rises in value, most traders and enthusiasts will be rather happy with how things are going. However, this could lead to some price pressure for most of the altcoins, as their internal ratio with Bitcoin could suffer from a bullish BTC run. The coming hours may prove rather entertaining in this regard.

Disclaimer: This is not trading or investment advice. The above article is for entertainment and education purposes only. Please do your own research before purchasing or investing into any cryptocurrency.

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

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May 03, 2019 at 12:56AM

Over 20% of Institutional Investors Already Exposed to Cryptos, Survey by Fidelity Reveals

2019-05-02T11:34:00.001-07:00

22 percent of institutional investors already have exposure to digital assets. This is according to a new report by Fidelity Investments, one of the largest asset managers in the world. The report goes against many crypto skeptics who have been quick to state that institutions are no longer interested in digital assets.

The survey polled 441 institutional investors between November last year and February this year. Interestingly, this was a time in which cryptos hit their lowest levels. Nevertheless, institutional investors remained unfazed, with interest in digital assets never really dwindling.

Tom Jessop, the president of Fidelity’s digital assets division explained, “We never saw a decline in interest or sentiment during the crypto winter.”

The survey revealed that 47 percent of institutional investors view digital assets as “having a place in their portfolios.” The investors, who include crypto funds, also disclosed their preferred investment methodology. 72 percent prefer to invest in digital assets through customized investment products. 57 percent prefer to invest in digital assets directly, with another 57 percent revealing they prefer “to purchase an investment product that contains digital asset companies.”

Clearly, the investors had the option of picking a combination of different methodologies.

Jessop further revealed that cryptos have evolved from their humble beginnings.

We’ve seen a maturation of interest in digital assets from early adopters, like crypto hedge funds, to traditional institutional investors like family offices and endowments

The investors also differ in their perception of digital assets. 47 percent of them view cryptos as an attractive technology. 46 percent are attracted to the low correlation that digital assets have with other assets.

There Are Challenges Still

While the interest in digital assets is still high and rising, there are challenges and concerns that investors share. Jessop explained:

“Institutions are doing the work to develop their own investment theses—but there’s more work to be done as it relates to describing digital assets and blockchain technology in terms that are familiar to them. For example, price volatility, which was a primary concern of survey respondents, may dampen as the underlying custody, trading and financing infrastructure continues to develop in a direction that traditional market participants are familiar with.”

And it’s not just Jessop who is bullish on cryptos at Fidelity. Abigail Johnson, the Fidelity CEO, has been one of the biggest crypto proponents on Wall Street. According to Bloomberg, she believes that Wall Street’s confidence in Fidelity will play a key part in crypto adoption.

The survey supports Abigail’s assertion. 37 percent of institutions prefer investing in digital assets with a traditional financial firm as opposed to 24 percent who prefer a crypto-focused firm.

Jessop also supported his colleague’s views stating:

People are relying on the institutions they’ve done business with for a long time to fulfill their objectives and needs. I’m not trying to throw shade on anybody else, but it’s up to the clients to decide.

Jessop further pointed out that Fidelity Digital Assets has continued to receive interest from a number of giant Wall Street firms. He explained, “Many of them are approaching it from a different perspective, whether it’s asset allocation, or others looking at the fundamentals like network activity, a more quantitative approach. It’s healthy people bring different analytical lenses to the same subject.”

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

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May 02, 2019 at 11:59PM

Binance Coin Price Targets $23 in Renewed Uptrend

2019-05-02T05:34:00.001-07:00

It is rather evident a lot of cryptocurrency enthusiasts keep a close eye on what is happening to the Binance Coin price. Since this is one of the best-performing tokens on the market today, it is only normal so many people will try to make good money with BNB. Even today, the uptrend still appears to be in effect, although one has to wonder if the value can hit $23 or higher before the sentiment reverses course.

Binance Coin Price Keeps Going

Although bullish momentum is not uncommon in the cryptocurrency industry, it doesn’t happen all that often one specific market remains subject to this momentum for months on end. In the case of Binance Coin, there has not been a lack of bullish momentum for quite some time now, despite a few dips and bruises along the way. For traders and speculators, this is a gift that keeps on giving in many different ways.

To put this in perspective, the Binance Coin price has risen by another 4.82% to elevate its value to $22.81. There is also a 3.34% improvement in BNB/BTC and a 4.81% gain in BNB/ETH. All of these signs confirm the interest in this token hasn’t diminished in the slightest, albeit one has to wonder how long things can continue along these lines. As long as the overall trading volume remains at its current level – or even rises slightly – there is a chance a push to $23 might materialize throughout this week.

Even though the BNB price is still heading in the right direction, some people are not too happy with what is going on Binance itself. Especially when it comes to BTT/BTC trading, there appear to be plenty of “odd” sell walls. Andy Sheu claims this is the fault of Binance’s CEO for not putting this activity to an end. It remains to be seen if such allegations will influence the BNB price in any way, though.

Responsibility respect lost for @cz_binance @binance #BTT #BTC #BNB pic.twitter.com/9o9AzHFdgP

— Andy sheu (@altcoinmarket1) May 2, 2019

In completely different news, it would appear BNB will be subjected for margin trading in the near future. According to some information Reddit, it would appear both the BNB/BTC and BNB/USDT pairs will become eligible, along with 7 other trading pairs. It will be interesting to see how things will play out in this regard, as margin trading can create a lot of price volatility for any of the supported pairs.

Binance için margin trading enabled olan bazı pairler reddit’de konuşuluyor. Yakın zamanda margin trading açılabilir #bnb moon mission pic.twitter.com/csmL3zxKXa

— cryptoati (@AtillaErsoy) May 2, 2019

Regardless of everything going on behind the scenes, it appears Bitcoin Florida Gator is more than happy with the way things are going right now. This user is pleased to see the BNB price move up again, after the recent push to $25 was rejected in a rather violent manner. Whether or not there will be another attempt at breaking that resistance level in the near future, is rather difficult to predict as of right now.

Binance: It’s going back up people!#BNB @cz_binance #binance #Crypto pic.twitter.com/f2YV40C0A8

— Bitcoin Florida Gator (@gator_bitcoin) May 2, 2019

For those cryptocurrency traders looking to make a quick buck, it would appear Binance Coin remains one of the more solid options as of right now. How long that situation will remain in place, is a different matter altogether, as Binance Coin has been on a bullish run for as long as most people can remember. All good things come to an end eventually, yet it seems BNB will try to stave off the inevitable for as long as possible.

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

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May 02, 2019 at 06:02PM

Dogecoin Price Notes Solid Gains as Coinbase Wallet Support Goes Live

2019-05-02T05:09:00.003-07:00

When it comes to different altcoins on the market today, traders often keen an eye on Dogecoin. While this is still considered to be the joke currency of the internet, the market cap of DOGE tends to remain fairly stable. Now that the Dogecoin price is on the rise again, it is certainly possible all of the other markets will head in the same direction moving forward.

Dogecoin Price Offers Signs of Hope

Although the past few days have not been overly negative for any of the cryptocurrency markets, it is always good to see some positive momentum brewing behind the scenes. When even Dogecoin can inch ahead, it is only a matter of time until the other markets attempt to follow the same. As long as Bitcoin remains in the green, there is no reason to expect a market reversal.

Over the past 24 hours, the Dogecoin price has risen by 3.15%, Because of this somewhat unexpected gain, the value per DOGE has now reached $0.002568 once again. At the same time, the DOGE/BTC ratio has improved by 1.65%, as the 47 Satoshi level has been reclaimed successfully. All of these developments are more than promising under the current market circumstances. However, it seems unlikely DOGE will return to $0.003 anytime soon.

The big news of the week so far is how Dogecoin is now officially supported by the Coinbase Wallet service. In most cases, that could hint at DOGE becoming available for trading on Coinbase in the near future, albeit the exchange has neither confirmed nor denied this is happening as of yet. Even so, it is evident the support by Coinbase Wallet will help legitimize Dogecoin as a cryptocurrency despite the public’s perception.

#Dogecoin #Coinbase borsasına eklenecekmiş. 0.00000036 btc alım yerimdi. Fiyatı düşmedi. Bakalım neler olacak. #Bitcoin #Vebitcoin #paribu https://t.co/X6phcKMChe

— ToroCoin {₿} (@arabac_cetin) May 2, 2019

Scrippins is one of those people who expect big things from this Coinbase Wallet news. Although other supported coins have seen their fair share of value increases, it remains to be seen if Dogecoin will receive a similar treatment. After all, there are dozens of billions of DOGE in circulation, and triggering a major market surge will be increasingly difficult. Even so, one never knows how its market will evolve in the coming days and weeks.

Get ready for blast off fellow #dogecoin friends

— Scrippins (@Scrippins) May 2, 2019

Despite all of the positive news, it seems some people are still not too convinced Dogecoin should be considered a legitimate project. Bill Warren, for example, is still convinced Dogecoin is a joke, as he cannot make sense of the current market cap of over $300m. While not everyone might take Dogecoin too seriously, it is evident this project will not disappear no matter how badly some people may want it to.

I get there some value in XRP, but it’s not really all that decentralized, so don’t you lose some value there. W/r to #dogecoin isn’t it supposed to be a joke? Are there really so many pure speculators / trolls out there that it can be worth $300mm+?

— Bill Warren (@wswarren12) May 2, 2019

When looking at the bigger picture, it would appear most of the cryptocurrency markets are in a very good place as of right now. As far as Dogecoin is concerned, this gain could very well remain in place for a while, albeit a bigger jump might not necessarily materialize in the near future. Despite the Coinbase Wallet listing, it seems unlikely a push to $0.003 will materialize anytime soon. That is not necessarily a bad thing either.

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

The post Dogecoin Price Notes Solid Gains as Coinbase Wallet Support Goes Live appeared first on NullTX.

May 02, 2019 at 05:32PM

What is Lightning Hosted?

2019-05-02T05:09:00.001-07:00

In the cryptocurrency world, there is never a shortage of new and interesting projects. Some of these ventures will be more successful than others, although most of the offerings will find their niche market sooner or later. Lightning Hosted is perhaps one of the more interesting projects as of late, although it might not necessarily appeal to everyone.

The Purpose of Lightning Hosted

On the surface, the exact purpose of Lightning Hosted might not make too much sense just yet. However, this image hosting service which uses Bitcoin’s Lightning Network could certainly prove to be useful in the long run. The main purpose is to effectively create a way to share advertising revenue with users accordingly. The Lightning Network is quite versatile in its own right, although this is not necessarily the kind of service people would expect to see at this stage.

How Does it Work?

There are a few interesting aspects to Lightning Hosted. First of all, users can upload images, yet they will have to pay a small fee to do so. This payment is done through Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, which should prevent people from abusing this service as a whole. Although it remains to be seen if this approach will be successful in that regard, the service is still in beta and all of its aspects remain subject to change moving forward.

Once the user has uploaded their preferred image, they will receive a dedicated link. Said link will display the image alongside Bitcoin-related advertisements. The person responsible for uploading the image will receive a portion of the revenue generated by those advertisements. It is an interesting business model for all parties involved, although it is still somewhat early to determine if any good money can be made from exploring this particular service.

As one would come to expect, the platform’s owners will maintain a strict policy as to what can be uploaded. Any illegal images – including copyrighted ones – will be prohibited. That makes a lot of sense, as those images could also pose genuine problems for the advertisers in question. Since everything is taken care of by a third party on behalf of the image uploader, it is only normal they will enforce specific rules upon its users.

The Road Ahead

When newer services like these launch, there will always be questions as to how services like these can keep growing and evolving. For Lightning Hosted, there are still a lot of unanswered questions in this regard. While anyone with a Bitcoin-focused project who wants to advertise can become an official sponsor of this platform, it may take a while until users can generate a somewhat decent revenue stream from this business model. Recouping the initial cost of uploading the image will be the main objective, but it is still too early to determine how long that will take at this time.

One thing that is for sure is how the team has no plans to add additional cryptocurrencies to Lightning Hosted. Even though Bitcoin is not the only currency with Lightning Network potential, this particular service will focus on the world’s leading cryptocurrency first and foremost. One upside of this service is how it doesn’t require personal information from its users. Whether that will be enough to get more people excited about Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, is difficult to determine.

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

The post What is Lightning Hosted? appeared first on NullTX.

May 02, 2019 at 05:30PM

Top 5 Media Franchises With a Total Revenue Lower Than Bitcoin’s Market Cap

2019-05-02T03:19:00.001-07:00

Most people like to compare Bitcoin’s market cap to other financial markets. Company valuations, the price of gold, everything is compared to Bitcoin sooner or later. The following media franchises all have a total revenue which is lower compared to Bitcoin’s market cap. Do keep in mind this is not intended to be derogatory toward these franchises. This article was written when Bitcoin had a market cap of $95.5 billion.

Star Wars – Estimated at $65 billion

Most people alive on the planet today are familiar with Star Wars. The movie franchise spawned many books, a few TV shows, video games, and tons of merchandise. All factors combined attribute to the estimated $65bn in total revenue generated by this media franchise. Interestingly enough, the merchandise sales vastly outperform the box office, home video, video games, book sales, and TV revenue combined. Considering how Star Wars is still an ongoing franchise, its total revenue will undoubtedly continue to climb, but it is likely Bitcoin’s market cap will too.

Mickey Mouse & Friends – Estimated at $70 billion

Most people tend to overlook Mickey Mouse & Friends has been around for 91 years at the time of writing. Over those several decades, the franchise noted just $457.4m of revenue in the box office, which is still a respectable number overall. VHS & DVD sales brought in another $280m, but the retail sales are the main money maker for this media franchise. With $69.85bn in sales, it is the main reason why this franchise has become so successful. Even so, it is still valued lower than Bitcoin’s current market cap.

Winnie the Pooh – Estimated at $75 billion

Not too many people will be surprised to learn Winnie the Pooh remains one of the most successful media franchises to date. It event received a new movie adaptation not that long ago, further confirming things are heading in the right direction. With $460m at the box office, $58m in DVD and Blu-ray sales, and $74.515bn in retail sales, Winnie the Pooh will remain in the top 10 for quite some time to come.

Hello Kitty – Estimated at $80 billion

There has always been a certain appeal to felines, yet none as commercialized as Hello Kitty. This particular cartoon character has become a cult figure in its own right, which also explains its massive merchandise sales of roughly $80bn. Combined with $23m in Manga magazine sales and $3m in Music CD sales – which seems somewhat surprising – Hello Kitty is still going very strong, even in 2019. Although its total revenue is not that far removed from Bitcoin’s market cap, there is still a clear gap to overcome.

Pokemon – Estimated at $90 billion

When it comes to the biggest media franchise in the past two decades, Pokemon should never be overlooked. It is still bringing in tons of money through video games, the TV shows, movies, and merchandise. Its licensed merchandise brought in $61.1bn so far, with the video games adding $17.138 bn and the card game bringing in another $10.254bn. Manga Sales, Anime box office, and home entertainment add another $3.6bn worth of revenue, which brings the total to roughly $90 billion. This is by far the biggest “Competitor” to Bitcoin’s market cap at this time, albeit everything needs to be put in its proper perspective.

Fun Fact: Harry Potter, Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Spider-man’s total revenue combined equals $89 billion, which is still lower than Bitcoin’s market cap.

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

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May 02, 2019 at 03:38PM

Top 6 Tips Prior to Investing in Initial Exchange Offerings

2019-05-02T03:04:00.001-07:00

In the world of cryptocurrencies, tokens, and assets, there will always be some new trends worth keeping an eye on. As of right now, the focus has seemingly shifted to Initial Exchange Offerings, or IEOs. It is an interesting business model, although interested participants have to take a few precautions prior to becoming eligible for these offerings.

Register and Verify Your Exchange Account

As normal as it may seem, some people assume an Initial Exchange Offering will not necessarily require an exchange account to be properly verified. That is often far from the case, although there may be some exceptions along the way. Anyone who is interested in IEOs should ensure their exchange account is verified as quickly as possible, simply to avoid not being eligible for participation. Most of these exchanges also require verification to unlock higher trading volumes, after all.

Not all offerings are Legitimate

Even though the Initial Exchange Offering business model is designed to weed out potential scams, there is no such thing as a foolproof method. Especially not when considering how these tokens are often listed on the exchange in question fairly quickly. Investors may receive better protection due to the involvement of specific top exchanges, but that doesn’t mean every IEO is worth investing in either. The team behind every project still remains a risk factor, for rather obvious reasons.

Be Prepared to Sell Quickly if Needed

Most people invest in an IEO primarily because they want to make a quick buck. As such, those who buy tokens will often try to liquidate them at a higher price as soon as the token gets listed for trading. As such, investors need to prepare for quickly selling their tokens if this is their main objective. Those who are in it for the long-term may want to revise their strategy depending on the initial market conditions, as there is no guarantee these tokens will rise in value over time.

Don’t buy in for the Hype

As is usually the case with fundraising efforts among cryptocurrency projects, there is a lot of hype surrounding IEOs right now. Every project gets the same level of FOMO as the first Initial Coin Offerings did, even though 90% of those projects either failed or is about to fail pretty soon. How things will pan out for IEOs, remains to be determined at this point, as it is too early to draw any real conclusions. However, investors should still perform research on every project prior to investing.

Buy Native Exchange Tokens to Participate

Perhaps one of the more interesting requirements is how IEO participants can only partake if they own enough native exchange tokens. For Binance, that means investors need BNB, whereas other exchanges who might jump on board will either have their own token or issue one in the future. This will undoubtedly influence the price of these individual tokens as well, although their value will undoubtedly tend to fluctuate significantly as well.

Be Quick to buy IEO Tokens

While all of the steps above are not difficult to follow, there is one key challenge ahead prior to participating in an IEO. These token sales can usually be completed within a minute or less, thus investors will need to be very quick on the button accordingly. This is also one of the bigger roadblocks associated with this particular business model, as a lot of interested investors will potentially not be able to buy the tokens accordingly.

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

The post Top 6 Tips Prior to Investing in Initial Exchange Offerings appeared first on NullTX.

May 02, 2019 at 03:30PM

Bcnex Trading Platform Is Launching Its ICO Token Sale

2019-05-01T19:39:00.001-07:00

Bcnex – a cryptocurrency trading platform developed by a Vietnamese team – has announced its upcoming Token Sale. The innovative startup has been actively working with the Vietnamese government to improve the legal framework for managing virtual currencies and digital assets. The outcome is expected to have a very positive impact on the industry and crypto prices.

The team behind Bcnex is positioning the platform as the first soon-to-be-regulated cryptocurrency exchange in Vietnam with a subsequent expansion to other countries. This is an ideal way for Asian investors to enter a new startup that is backed by industry best practices and a regulatory framework. Technology is at the heart of Bcnex as the exchange offers a set of competitive advantages over existing solutions on the market. A few of the core principles Bcnex is built on are:

A highly secure and stable trading platform built on microservices architecture that meets the most stringent customer requirements. Plus, Bcnex has partnered with Akamai to ensure that the system is protected at the highest security level.
Strong customer focus and excellent user experience through 24/7 support service.
Superior processing power with an institutional-grade trading engine which can process up to 2M orders per second, one of the fastest in the industry.
With a rich and abundant source of liquidity, Bcnex ensures that every transaction on the system is executed without delays and multiple intermediaries.
Regulatory framework with the baking of the 844 Program of the Vietnamese Government

Bcnex has already successfully raised $1,000,000 during its Angel Funding Round, which was only open to Vietnamese investors. Now, the startup is preparing for its public token sale on the 3rd of May 2019.

BCNX tokens issued by Bcnex will be used primarily as a medium of exchange on the platform and will also be used for access to token sales, listing and sponsorship fees, and as payment for any services rendered by Bcnex in preparing teams for token sales or listings. Funds from the sale of Bcnex tokens will be used to further development on the Bcnex trading platform and ICO management ecosystem and to expand our marketing campaign.

The sale of BCNX in tandem with a widespread user base will help Bcnex achieve its intention of becoming a world-leading, regulated ICO management platform and cryptocurrency exchange. The overwhelming support for the project already in the successful presale period is a testament to the trust of users and the crypto community in the innovative startup.

The team behind Bcnex is working to lay the foundation for the global expansion of a regulated cryptocurrency market with all proceeds raised in our token sale event helping further this vision and make it a reality.

Investors who wish to participate can do so during one of the 4 upcoming sessions:  

The first session is for purchases using ETH with flexible price, ranging from $0.15 to $0.25 USD.
The second one is for purchases using BTC with a flexible price, ranging from $0.25 to $0.35 USD.
The third one is for purchases using USDT with a flexible price, ranging from $0.35 to $0.45 USD.
The last session is for purchases using BCN with a fixed price of $0.45 USD.

There are only 100,000,000 BCNX for sale. The BCNX Tokens Sale Event is expected to end on June 27th, 2019, when the hard cap reaches $15,000,000, or when all tokens are sold out, whichever comes first. American and Canadian citizens are not allowed to participate. All unsold tokens will be burned.

Bcnex is not only a cryptocurrency exchange, it is also an ecosystem that offers its users the opportunity to trade crypto assets on a fully-fledged, transparent and secure financial platform. The full spectrum of the components of the ecosystem includes:

1) Bcnex Blockchain Trading Platform: This is the main service of the Bcnex Ecosystem. Bcnex Blockchain Trading Platform enables investors and contributors living in different countries to exchange tokens/coins of different blockchain, crypto-related projects.

2) Bcnex Launchpad: The Bcnex Launchpad serves as a fundraising platform and facilitates fundraising activities for innovative startups. Bcnex Launchpad hosts and guides startup teams and businesses going through different rounds of funding — from Private Sales/Angel Funding Sessions to Public/Open Funding Rounds. Launchpad also supports various forms of funding raising, such as ICO/STO/IEO, depending on the project’s roadmap and development plan.

3) Project Data Center: Bcnex plays a key role in assisting investors as a transparent advisor and provides them with sufficient information about projects that are incubated in Bcnex Ecosystem. Bcnex also offers a rating service for most blockchain-crypto-related projects. This service is based on many different criteria. Thereby, investors can make their most accurate investment decison.

4) Bcnex Startup Incubator: provides support to startups to expand their business ideas; provide capital, technical help, networking…. etc

Bcnex not only supports startup projects but also creates value for communities. It cooperates with the Vietnamese Government in managing and regulating the activities of venture capital and crowdfunding activities to support innovative technological startups in Vietnam.

Bcnex’s ICO Tokens Sale is coming up. In the mean time, you can also apply for trading contest here https://www.bcnex.net/trading-competition.html. Trade to receive rewards.

* Website: http://www.bcnex.net

* Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/bcnex.net

* Twitter: https://twitter.com/bcnex_net

* Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/user/Bcnex_Official

* Medium: https://medium.com/@bcnex

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bcnex_official/

* Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/company/bcnexholdings

Disclosure: This is a sponsored press release

The post Bcnex Trading Platform Is Launching Its ICO Token Sale appeared first on NullTX.

May 02, 2019 at 08:00AM

Ambulances Equipped With Medical Robots can Reduce Trauma Casualties, Engineer Claims

2019-05-01T07:04:00.001-07:00

Advancements in the scientific and robots industry can lead to many new breakthroughs. The University of Maryland is making a fair bit of headlines in this regard. More specifically, one of its engineers is in favor of equipping all ambulances with medical robots to haul trauma patients. These robots will gain additional knowledge through machine learning.

Robots Will Save Human Lives, Eventually

A lot of people are still confused when it comes to potentially having robots interact with them in a medical sense. That doesn’t necessarily mean those people are not confident this technology can succeed in the long run, yet most are not keen on being guinea pigs in this regard. For trauma patients, introducing robots in ambulances can make a world of difference. In fact, it can potentially help save more lives in the future, especially as these robots become smarter over time.

To put this in perspective, there is a certain risk factor associated with the ride to the hospital as a trauma patient. It is estimated one-third of trauma fatalities could be prevented if the patient had access to a higher level of care sooner. Despite this knowledge, it is very difficult to make something these lines happen. Ambulances are equipped with most of the necessary tools to provide the first care, but if a patient is already in critical condition, these “tools” are not always sufficient.

To counter this problem Assistant Professor Axel Krieger suggests a radical approach. He is confident equipping ambulances with a medical robot enhanced by machine learning is the only path forward. Especially when it comes to internal bleeding or other injuries below the skin, failing to diagnose these conditions can threaten patients’ lives. Since these conditions cannot be assessed accurately, having a medical robot on board can certainly improve upon the situation.

Krieger explains it as follows:

“Imagine you have a patient in the emergency vehicle, and a robot scans the patient and obtains ultrasound images. This can provide a critical level of life-saving diagnosis and care not yet possible during an emergency ambulance ride.”

These medical robots will scan and visualize potential injuries and compare the data with its built-in machine learning algorithm. The robots will primarily focus on anatomic areas known to be vulnerable to hidden injuries and bleeding. By properly analyzing all of the characteristics of these injuries, a more complete injury profile can be compiled. This will improve the trauma patient’s chances of survival, as they will receive appropriate care as soon as possible.

The big hurdle will come in the form of developing an appropriate machine learning system to power the robot. A collaboration is underway, albeit it is still in the experimental stage at this time. Nor is it approved for clinical use with patients, but that situation can change in the near future. The whole concept of equipping ambulances with medical robots makes a lot of sense on paper. However, in the real world, such ideas will always be met with a fair bit of scrutiny first and foremost.

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

The post Ambulances Equipped With Medical Robots can Reduce Trauma Casualties, Engineer Claims appeared first on NullTX.

May 01, 2019 at 07:30PM

Electrum Botnet Steals $4.6m in Bitcoin From Over 150,000 Victims

2019-05-01T04:05:00.001-07:00

The cryptocurrency community remains subject to a lot of potential scams in this day and age. Although that is nothing new, it would appear some of these attacks are a lot more successful than others. One recently discovered “Electrum botnet” has successfully stolen $4.6m worth of Bitcoin from victims in recent months. It is expected over 150,000 users have been infected by this malware already.

Beware of the Electrum Botnet

When it comes to dealing with cryptocurrencies and their associated wallets, nearly all projects have a version of Electrum available to its users. In the case of Bitcoin, it would appear the Electrum wallet has been very popular for some time now, which also makes it a prone target for criminals and individuals with nefarious intentions. It would appear a dedicated botnet is now targeting these users, and is doing so in a rather successful manner as well.

Most of these attacks have been apparent since December of 2018. A bit of odd timing, considering how the Bitcoin price has tanked significantly since late 2017. One would expect criminals to go after users of this wallet when one BTC is valued at $19,000, rather than near the $4,000 range. Even so, a total of roughly $4.6 million has been stolen to date, which further confirms the efforts have paid off in spades already.

The botnet in question operates in a pretty interesting manner. It would appear the attackers have spun up several malicious Electrum nodes. These malicious nodes display an error to legitimate Electrum wallet apps, telling them to download a new version of the client. While the new client can be downloaded from GitHub, it is not through the official Electrum repository. Most users should be able to tell the difference right away, but novice wallet users might not be aware of which repository is legitimate.

It is evident the Electrum team is all too aware of what is happening tot heir network. In recent times, the team has mimicked the approach by these criminals to display error messages in users’ wallets and force them to update through the legitimate GitHub repository. Moreover, the team has ensured clients on versions before 3.3 can no longer connect to public servers accordingly.

Although the fake upgrade message looks as legitimate as one would expect, it is evident users need to conduct their own research first and foremost. When downloading software updates, it is always best to do so through the official website, rather than following links shared through the application itself. It is a slight workaround, but if it can keep funds safe, users should not be too bothered by this handful of extra steps.

Despite the best attempts by the Electrum team, Malwarebytes has confirmed the number of infected machines running the illegitimate client continues to increase every month. While the numbers tend to fluctuate a bit, it would appear most of the victims reside in the Asia Pacific region, Brazil, and Peru. Additionally, the number of infection vectors remains unclear, as only three of them have been uncovered so far. However, it is expected there could be as many as a dozen vectors or even possibly more.

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

The post Electrum Botnet Steals $4.6m in Bitcoin From Over 150,000 Victims appeared first on NullTX.

May 01, 2019 at 04:30PM

New Brain Implant Translates Your Thoughts to Natural Speech

2019-04-30T22:34:00.001-07:00

Brain-computer interfaces have been around for several years now. In most cases, they are used to help people who are no longer capable of communicating on their own. University of California scientists successfully unveiled a new type of brain-computer interface. The implant in question is capable of saying what people are thinking. As such, its potential consequences will undoubtedly spark some heated debates along the way.

The new Brain Implant Won’t Hide Your Thoughts

Any sort of implant inserted in the human body will always be met with concern and scrutiny. Whether it is to facilitate day-to-day tasks or explore new boundaries, there are certain stigmas associated with body modifications. Especially if that modification affects a critical part of the human body, such as vital organs or even the brain. In recent years, the concept of brain-computer interfaces has received a lot of attention from researchers around the world.

Scientists at the University of California in San Francisco recently demonstrated their latest breakthrough. It is a new type of brain-computer interface which is powered by neural networks. It has a lot of potential, primarily because it allows paralyzed individuals to communicate in a manner very similar to natural speech. Especially people who suffer from a stroke or spinal cord injuries will benefit from this technology, assuming it will ever be used by the masses in the years to come.

To put this in perspective, the previous “record” of communication through a brain-computer interface sits at typing eight words per minute. This new interface allows users to communicate at a rate of 150 words per minute. That in itself is a vast improvement and shows there may be even further advancements to unlock in the years ahead. All of this is made possible thanks to how the technology works.

The new brain-computer interface is capable of translating brain signals into vocal tract movements. Afterward, it then synthesizes how the vocal tract movements into speech to utter speech like one would normally do. The device itself consists of numerous electrodes which need to be inserted on the brain directly. By following this approach, the researchers have effectively achieved a way to turn brain activity into natural speech. While it sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie or TV show, the technology has a working proof of concept in the real world.

One has to keep in mind scientists have attempted to decode sounds or even full words from brain activity in the past. That is a very difficult process, which is also why the University of California researchers decided to take a completely different approach. By decoding movements as a way to create sounds, their concept appears to have a lot more merit. Further research as to how one can decode speech from brain activity is still needed, and this brain-computer interface may not become part of clinical practice anytime soon.

Some people may wonder if this type of technology can ever be abused. Translating brain waves into actual speech would be rather interesting, although it can also open a proverbial Pandora’s Box in the process. While this particular research focuses on scientific implications first and foremost, it is not unlikely similar commercial-grade technology focusing on completely different aspects will come to market in a few decades from today. Any research on this scale will meet a lot of opposition, both from an ethical and political point of view.

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

The post New Brain Implant Translates Your Thoughts to Natural Speech appeared first on NullTX.

May 01, 2019 at 10:50AM

Top Cryptocurrency Exchanges 2019 (US Friendly Bitcoin Exchanges)

2019-04-30T16:44:00.001-07:00

When someone is first introduced to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, one of the first services they interact with is an exchange. In order to experience the beauty of Bitcoin, you first must acquire it. There are a number of ways of getting your hands on some crypto, but the easiest method is by far signing up to an exchange and purchasing it with fiat.

Also Read: Top Bitcoin Casinos 2019 (US Friendly Crypto Gambling)

There is a massive amount of cryptocurrency exchanges on the market. Some are better quality than others, some have less fees than others, and some are outright scams. Instead of overwhelming you and listing each exchange available, we handpicked the top 5 cryptocurrency exchanges for you to use, especially if you are in the US. The exchanges below are not listed in any particular order, but each have their own unique strengths depending on what you’re looking for.

Binance

One of my personal favorite exchanges, Binance is a top choice if you are looking to trade cryptocurrency on a daily basis. Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange based in China that was launched in 2017.

The exchange grew so quickly that it set the record for the fastest profitable startup to achieve unicorn startup in history. If you didn’t know, for a startup to achieve unicorn status they must have a valuation of over $1 billion. Binance was able to go from a valuation of $0 to more than $2 billion in under 6 months.

When it comes to its platform, Binance has one of the smoothest interfaces and fastest trade engines. While minor hiccups occur here and there, overall the exchange has one of the best reputations on the market thanks to its CEO Changpeng Zhao.

If you are looking to trade crypto on an exchange with high volume, fast trade engine, and bulletproof security then Binance in the right choice for you.

Visit Binance Exchange

Coinbase

Some love it, some hate it, but if you are a US resident looking to purchase cryptocurrency with fiat the easiest and simplest way possible, then Coinbase is the right choice for you.

Being a US based exchange, Coinbase is subject to strict regulatory guidelines. That’s one of the reasons that the company receives so much backlash from the crypto community, as inherently most people in crypto are against rules and regulations. Nevertheless, when it comes to purchasing crypto with fiat, Coinbase provides an unparalleled platform to do just that.

It’s important not to confuse Coinbase with Coinbase Pro – a digital asset exchange. The difference between the two platforms is the former is mostly for buying crypto with fiat and storing it, and the latter is an exchange in the traditional sense similar to Binance.

Visit Coinbase Exchange

Gemini

Gemini is a US based cryptocurrency exchange that is owned by the Winklevoss Twins. The exchange is meant for more institutional investors but is open to the general public as well. If you are looking for a reliable exchange to make withdrawals and deposits of crypto to and from your bank, Gemini is the right exchange for you.

Gemini is used to dealing with large deposits and withdrawals and has a great relationship with various banks. Once fully verified, you are able to convert crypto to USD and withdraw it via ACH or Wire Transfer and receive it the next day in your bank account. Moreover, if you would like to support the Winklevoss Twins, using their exchange is the best way to do so.

Visit Gemini Exchange

Binance DEX

This list wouldn’t be complete without including a decentralized exchange (DEX). It’s 2019 and DEXs are all the hype right now. Using a Decentralized Exchange means you don’t have to risk your balance and if the exchange goes down you still have access to all your coins. Essentially you get all the benefits of a traditional cryptocurrency exchange with none of the risk associated with it.

The Binance DEX is a newly launched exchange that only has one token listed so far – Mithril. Nevertheless, it’s worth making an account on the exchange and keeping a close eye for any future listings as the price of any newly listed cryptocurrency will most likely spike either after the announcement or after the actual listing.

Visit Binance DEX Exchange

CryptoBridge

For our last featured exchange in the list we had to include CryptoBridge. This is a much more developed decentralized exchange that already has dozens of tokens listed on it. It’s extremely easy to get set up with CryptoBridge and by doing so you will get to experience a decentralized exchange firsthand.

The exchange includes a desktop client that you can use so you don’t actually have to go to their website at all. CryptoBridge has an assortment of tokens that you might not find on other exchanges so if you like to trade smaller cryptocurrencies you should definitely check out CryptoBridge.

One drawback to choosing CryptoBridge over the Binance DEX is if you are a US citizen you will be required to undergo user verification prior to being able to use the CryptoBridge exchange.

Visit CryptoBridge Exchange

What are Bitcoin / Cryptocurrency Exchanges?

If you still aren’t sure what Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange are, don’t fret. This is an extremely common question that is often overlooked. In order to understand what crypto exchanges are, it’s best to first understand what problem they are trying to solve.

Back when Bitcoin first came out in 2009, if someone wanted to get a hold of some cryptocurrency there were only two options – mine it or buy it from someone else. If you wanted to get $100 worth of Bitcoin you would have to either fire up those ASICs or find someone on a forum to sell it to you. Finding someone to sell you some Bitcoins has a few drawbacks, first you have to actually find someone willing to part with their Bitcoins and second you need to either use an escrow service or establish some sort of trust between you and the other party.

This is where cryptocurrency exchanges come in, you are able to use a service to purchase cryptocurrency without dealing with the logistics of finding someone to sell you coins, establishing trust, exchanging the fiat etc.

Moreover, when we refer to cryptocurrency exchanges, we mean both those services that allow you to buy crypto with fiat (Coinbase, Gemini), and those platforms that allow you to trade one crypto coin for another (Binance, Binance DEX, CryptoBridge).

What are Decentralized Bitcoin / Cryptocurrency Exchanges?

Now that you understand what a basic cryptocurrency exchange is, let’s step it up a level and go over decentralized exchanges. We will use the same method of understanding what problem the services are trying to solve exactly.

Decentralized exchanges were born as a response to the constant hacking of exchanges which resulted in customers losing their balances. Imagine you are trading Bitcoin for Ethereum on an exchange. You deposit some coins and trade it for Ethereum, you decide to hold the Ethereum and leave the balance on the exchange. A few months goes by and you read on the news that the exchange has been hacked and someone has siphoned off all the funds. You realize that you had your ETH on the exchange and now that the exchange has lost all of its coins, so did you.

The beauty of decentralized exchanges is that they don’t have a central database that can be hacked. Moreover, you never really send your coins to the exchange’s wallets, the coins remain on your computer. As such, even if the decentralized exchange is hacks or goes offline, the funds are still in your possession and thus can be recovered.

There is no real drawback to decentralized exchanges form a consumer point of view. However, when it comes to developing such an exchange, it’s much harder to code because you can’t use traditional development methods that rely on centralized databases.

Is There a Difference Between a Bitcoin Exchange and a Cryptocurrency Exchange?

The terms Bitcoin exchange and Cryptocurrency exchange both mean the same thing. Bitcoin exchange is more of an older term for those services that only deal with Bitcoin and not other cryptocurrencies. These days most exchanges that support Bitcoin also support a handful of other coins. Because cryptocurrencies operate with the same blockchain technology, it’s easy for services to add an assortment of cryptos rather than just using Bitcoin all by itself.

Are Cryptocurrency Exchanges Safe?

The answer to this question heavily depends on the specific exchange we are talking about. At the end of the day, any traditional exchange will have vulnerabilities that may allow hackers to empty customers’ balances. However, most top exchanges have had a great track record the past few years of not having any major issues with losing customer balances. Moreover, if you want to be completely safe you should use a decentralized exchange (CryptoBridge, Binance DEX) which reduces the risk of losing your balance to essentially zero.

Should I Use a Bitcoin / Cryptocurrency Exchange?

If you are looking to either acquire cryptocurrency with fiat or convert one crypto to another, then using an exchange is the best way to do so. Depending on which exchange you use, you can easily buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP and much more cryptocurrencies with your bank account or credit card. You can also convert these coins into any other cryptocurrency you desire assuming the exchange has it listed.

Top 3 Cryptocurrency Exchange Mistakes to Avoid

There are some key mistakes you should try to avoid when using any cryptocurrency exchange.

1. Don’t store coins on an exchange for a long period of time. If you are looking to hold a certain cryptocurrency for a prolonged period of time (a few months+) then it’s best to transfer those coins to a wallet to which you own the private keys to. There is a phrase: “If you don’t own your private keys you don’t own your coins.” Cryptocurrency exchange wallets usually don’t give you access to your own private keys, so on the off chance that the exchange gets hacked you will lose your balance. By transferring the coins from the exchange to a wallet you fully control you avoid absorbing the risk of losing your balance through a hack.

2. Make Sure to Enable 2FA. Another often overlooked mistake is not enabling 2FA when using exchanges. 2FA means Two Factor Authentication, and it’s a method of authentication that requires a second “factor” which is usually another device. With 2FA, in order to log into your account you not only have to input the password, but you also have to input a code that is usually sent either to your phone or email. This makes the account much more secure and harder to hack. To step it up a level some exchanges even employ 3FA – Three Factor Authentication.

3. Don’t trade on emotion. This applies not only to trading cryptocurrency on exchanges but also to trading any stocks or commodities in general. Never make any impulse decisions based on emotion. The market has its cycles and if you push the red button any time a fluctuation happens that makes you uncomfortable you will end up in the hole more than if you waited for the market to stabilize or rebound.

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

The post Top Cryptocurrency Exchanges 2019 (US Friendly Bitcoin Exchanges) appeared first on NullTX.

May 01, 2019 at 05:03AM

Bytom (BTM) Airdrop is Coming to Bittrex International

2019-04-30T15:59:00.001-07:00

April 2019, San Francisco, USA – Bittrex International announced a BTM Airdrop promotion with Bytom for eligible Bittrex International BTM holders. 80,000 Bytom (BTM) tokens will be distributed as a one-time airdrop to Bittrex International Bytom (BTM) holders.

Eligible users must hold more than 100 BTM to receive the airdrop tokens. 80,000 BTMtokens will be distributed in proportion with the amount of BTM each user has in their Bittrex International account. Snapshot of Bittrex International account balance will occur on May 6, 2019 at 12:00 PM, PDT.

Bytom public blockchain is an interactive protocol of multiple byte assets. Heterogeneous byte-assets (indigenous digital currency, digital assets) that operate in different forms on the Bytom Blockchain and atomic assets (warrants, securities, dividends, bonds, intelligence information, forecasting information and so forth) can be registered, exchanged, gambled and engaged in other more complicated and contract-based interoperations via Bytom.

Bytom endeavors to bridge the atomic world and the byte world, promoting the interaction of assets between the two worlds, with the mission of creating diverse assets and a programmable economy. Bytom(BTM) was listed on Bittrex International in January 2019.

On April 24th, 2018, the mainnet of Bytom was launched. Since then the team has achieved much progress in both technology improvement and blockchain application. Multiple smart contract templates and a sidechain called Vapor have been released.

Bytom launched a series of development challenges and bounty tasks in the past year. The cooperation with SeaRates to adopt BTM as global shipment payment simplifies the international trade. Bytom also works with Baoquan website to upload important information to Bytom blockchain, which ensures the immutability of data and paves the way for application in rights protection.

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of Bytom’s mainnet launch, Bytom launches an AMA event on Reddit. Anyone can ask questions to Bytom team from April 24 to April 29 PDT and these questions will be answered on April 30. A prize pool of 5,000 BTM tokens will be distributed to selected AMA participants.

Learn more about BYTOM – https://bytom.io/

Join the Global Dev competition – https://bytom.io/developers_en/

Read the BYTOM Whitepaper – https://bytom.io/wp-content/themes/freddo/book/BytomWhitePaperV1.1_En.pdf

Connect on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/bytomofficial/

Chat on Telegram – https://t.me/BytomInternational

Reddit – https://www.reddit.com/r/BytomBlockchain/

Read about BYTOM on Twitter – https://twitter.com/Bytom_Official

Join on Discord – https://discordapp.com/invite/U3RSYr5

Medium – https://medium.com/@Bytom_Official

Media Contact

Name: Yi Ren

Email: reny@bytom.io

Bytom is the source of this content. Virtual currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and accounts and value balances are not subject to consumer protections. Cryptocurrencies and tokens are extremely volatile. There is no guarantee of a stable value, or of any value at all.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored press release

The post Bytom (BTM) Airdrop is Coming to Bittrex International appeared first on NullTX.

May 01, 2019 at 04:16AM

REBGLO – Bringing Sustainability in the Cryptocurrency Domain

2019-04-30T14:44:00.001-07:00

According to the reports, the cryptocurrency mining process requires three times more energy than digging up gold that is worth a dollar. In fact, global Bitcoin mining alone has transcended the energy consumption of some nations including Ireland in recent years. Evidently, the environmental impact of this enormous processing requirement has still not been accounted for by the crypto-landscape.

REBGLO – Addressing the Critical Impediments

The REBGLO is a digital currency project that works with the concept of ‘Reboot Globalization’ and ‘Reproduction and Globalization.’ The project aims to leverage state-of-the-art technology to bring an eco-friendly approach towards crypto-mining process and offer greater efficiency and economic benefits. REBGLO intends to accomplish its objectives via its powerful solutions that include:-

Data Transmission System (DTS)

Typically in a traditional crypto-mining process, miners have to read and reconstruct the collected data across multiple unoccupied spaces on the disc, making it a complex and lengthy process. This system is primarily designed to solve scalability issues and reduce power consumption in cryptocurrency mining. When tested the technology exhibited a 17.2% improvement in hash/s.

Benefits of using DTS system in virtual cryptocurrency mining:-

Extend Improved Computing Performance

By accumulating all the relevant data for processing on the central memory, and integrating it with instruction parallelization during the crypto-mining process, DTS improves the operational performance on a higher level.

Provide Augmented Mining Speed and Revenue

DTS system allows miners to gain mining income at higher levels than combinations including conventional mining software and mining computers.

HETTARER Technology

REBGLO is an unconventional electromagnetic sticker that adjusts elementary particles into a constitution state. Once collected, these particles develop a protective layer that opposes electromagnetic noise, which is responsible for reducing the battery longevity. HETTARER stickers were developed in Japan. They basically use conductive paper to gather the charged particles from electric currents emitting from the device and air naturally. These stickers come with a lifespan of 60 days and are currently available for smartphones and many other battery-operated gadgets via http://hettarer.biz/shop.

Furthermore, these particles are then enhanced by the heat occurring from the battery, that offers subdued charging times and elongated battery life. By solely applying the sticker on the back of the device, users can improve the overall battery performance by 20-40%. These effective hacks can also be used on car batteries and other battery-operated household appliances.

HETTARER Technology Boosting Crypto-Mining

HETTARER can also be leveraged to reduce the high frequency of electric devices by 90%, thereby notably doubling the efficiency of the crypto-mining. HETTARER sticker is proven to improve both data mining speed and its results. The statistics showed that within the span of 24 hours, the sticker revealed a 133% increase in Monero data mining and a 114% improvement in Monero mining within 48-hours by multi-currency mining pool of MinerGate.

REBGLO – Safe, Secure, and Efficiency Crypto-Mining Solution

REBGLO project aims to offer effective and powerful software as well as hardware solutions in order to improve the existing cryptocurrency mining process. The company in near future aims enter into the ‘Electric Power Business’ and ‘Energy’ business and develop its own electric power company. Through its efforts, the company plans to address environmental issues associated with crypto-mining as well as extend the landscape a more efficient mining environment that reduces the complexities and increasing the chances of making better profits.

For more info Visit :

Website : http://rebglo.nz/

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/NAGAMEsticker/

Twitter : https://twitter.com/Rebgloofficial

Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCusBEZjmEPABbAGTCKfcQuA

Instagram : https://instagram.com/Rebgloofficial

Disclosure: This is a sponsored press release

The post REBGLO – Bringing Sustainability in the Cryptocurrency Domain appeared first on NullTX.

May 01, 2019 at 03:09AM

Future-Facing Borderless Data Sharing Platform Ocean Protocol’s IEO on Bittrex Begins Today!

2019-04-30T14:24:00.001-07:00

April 2019, Singapore – Aiming to break down data silos and unlock the 13 trillion data and AI economy, Ocean Protocol uses blockchain technology and smart contracts to enable the safe and secure sharing of data, guaranteeing control and auditability while protecting privacy. The technology allows organizations to put value on, own and control their data while smart contracts allow the data owners themselves to program the conditions of access which are then executed with perfect precision. Ocean Protocol is supported by the Ocean Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Singapore.

Bittrex IEO

During March, Ocean undertook an ICO which raised over $1,800,000 USD. The sale was hosted by crowdfunding sites Coinlist and Fractal, and via their own private organisation. Now, Ocean Protocol and Bittrex International have announced than an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) will be held on the Bittrex International digital asset trading platform, where participants will be able to purchase OCEAN tokens. In preparation for the IEO, OCEAN completed a rigorous evaluation process that included comprehensive technical, compliance and regulatory reviews.

The IEO will officially start at 16:00 GMT / 18:00 CEST on Tuesday, April 30th. Bittrex users can participate using BTC.

“With Ocean Protocol, people with data can be connected with people who need data. This is the start of a new data economy and Ocean is the means to promote liquidity and ultimately a financial value for data”, said founder of Ocean Protocol, Bruce Pon.

Data owners and buyers have never had a working model which ensures privacy, security and guarantees of payment and puts use rights into their hands. Additionally, Oceanenables algorithms and models to travel to the data, get trained and then leave without exposing the data or taking a copy, thereby retaining privacy, and freeing up data to advance economy and society. By 2020, 1.7MB of data will be created every second for every person on earth, which shows the immense potential for this untapped market.

About Ocean Protocol

By bringing together decentralized blockchain technology, a data sharing framework, and an ecosystem for data and related services, Ocean Protocol is committed to kick-starting a new Data Economy that touches every single person, company and device, giving power back to data owners, enabling people to reap value from data to better our world.

To sign up, visit: https://international.bittrex.com/Market/Index?MarketName=BTC-OCEAN

For more information, visit the website: www.oceanprotocol.com

Join the conversation on Twitter: https://twitter.com/oceanprotocol

Chat on Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/GUyxrE0Hi154D0NrlOqLFg

Check out the Ocean blog: https://blog.oceanprotocol.com/

Connect to the team via Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/13429589/

Media Contact Details

Contact Name: Patty Lee

Contact Email: patty@oceanprotocol.com

Disclosure: This is a sponsored press release

The post Future-Facing Borderless Data Sharing Platform Ocean Protocol’s IEO on Bittrex Begins Today! appeared first on NullTX.

May 01, 2019 at 02:49AM

XRP Price Analysis – XRPUSD Struggling to Recover

2019-04-30T13:19:00.001-07:00

By Dmitriy Gurkovskiy, Chief Analysis at RoboForex

XRP is recovering Friday after the Thursday’s plunge, trading at around $0.2996.

On H4, the downtrend reached the long term support, with the price ready to go further down after the test. Currently, the downside momentum has increased, and the XRP is trying to break out the current channel support, which could then allow it to reach the projection support at $0.2460. The major resistance lies at $0.3100.

On H1, the downside momentum is fading out, but still, the price is ready to make a lower low, plunging to $0.2670. The Stochastic converging signals a near pullback that could send the price up to $2.900.

Ripple’s financial report says the company sold tokens at $169M across Q1 2019, which is +31% compared to the same period in 2018. The overall XRP turnover, meanwhile, plunged by 2%, staying at $55.85B.

As for the tokens sold through intermediaries, the sales was boosted from $88.88M to $107.49 over Q1. Direct sales jumped from $40.15M to $61.90M. Over Q1, the company released XRP 3B from its escrow wallets, with 2.30B returned, and the rest 700M used for ecosystem maintenance. Overall, the report is quite positive, showing Ripple Labs is sustainable and busy optimizing its ecosystem.

Disclaimer:

Any predictions contained herein are based on the authors’ particular opinion. This analysis shall not be treated as trading advice. RoboForex shall not be held liable for the results of the trades arising from relying upon trading recommendations and reviews contained herein.

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

The post XRP Price Analysis – XRPUSD Struggling to Recover appeared first on NullTX.

May 01, 2019 at 01:45AM

Ethereum Gas Fees: Why Vitalik Buterin Might be Right or Wrong With His Proposals

2019-04-30T13:04:00.001-07:00

Ethereum is the leading smart contract platform globally and it gave rise to the ICO world. The inventor of Ethereum is Vitalik Buterin, and he is in the eye of the storm for proposing new wallet fees.

A few weeks ago, a particular news item made ripples through the crypto community. This wave came from Vitalik Buterin, creator of the Ethereum blockchain project. In it, he suggested charging a small fee for Ethereum transactions.

The money obtained from this fee, he said, should help fund the developers, and the project itself. Answers to his plea came in immediately and divided the community. Some people saw it as a good proposal, while others immediately shunned it.

So far, Ethereum hasn’t implemented such a policy. We don’t even know if it will. However, there’s an important question here: Is it really a bad idea?

Arguments for the change, or why developers need to eat

Software development is expensive. This is also true about blockchains and maintaining them. The detail is, developers working on projects have their own living costs. Vitalik’s proposal simply attempts to make sure blockchain developers are paid decent wages. That’s it.

There are reasons to support this even if you’re not a blockchain developer. Blockchain technology is very security-intensive, and coders need to always be on top of possible threats. And it is a fact that overworked, underpaid people can be a threat.

Vitalik’s proposal makes sense. Making sure those in charge of keeping our crypto safe is a sound investment.

There are further things to consider when it comes to charging for Ethereum wallet use, or any crypto wallet use. While free wallets could still exist, users would have to consider whether they should or not trust a free one. After all, they would be facing the risk that free wallets are more susceptible to hacks.

Vitalik’s proposed increase isn’t even huge, which is one of the reasons he defends his idea. The increase would amount to less than 7% of the current wallet fees. However, thanks to the massive amount of people using Ethereum, it would add up to over $2 million per year.

The idea, then, is to have all, or most, wallet users’ chip in to make sure wallet developers are paid. More importantly, part of that money could be reinvested to make wallets and blockchains more secure. It could even be used to finding new ways to use technology.

There’s another reason to give wallet and blockchain developers a good pay. As blockchain technologies enter the mainstream, more stress will be placed on these chains. In order to keep up with demand, more money will be needed to keep projects afloat.

Most blockchains are managed by companies with the means to maintain them currently, but that won’t necessarily be true a decade from now. As requirements and costs go up, many current-day blockchains and wallets might find themselves unable to make ends meet.

This idea only gets grimmer. Blockchain has been hailed mainly by free software and open source foundations. However, there’s nothing keeping corporate entities from creating their own. If costs get too high for current players to maintain a global blockchain, new players could step in.

Can you imagine an Amazon-owned blockchain? Government-owned ones?

While unlikely right now, these things need to be considered in the long run. Keeping the blockchain environment healthy is important if we want to avoid any such takeovers.

That’s not to say companies like Amazon can’t develop blockchains of their own. However, we must make sure their huge war chest doesn’t allow them to corner the market.

Arguments against, or why some things are better left alone

Most of the arguments that surfaced as replies to Vitalik’s proposal were, curiously, against it. This is particularly important because many of these comments came from the developers themselves.

That’s not to say developers don’t want to get paid – we all want to get paid. The problems they see are more of the social kind, along with fears of an IRS rush.

First: Ethereum wouldn’t be the first blockchain to ever implement such fees. It’s been tried before. Multibit, a once popular wallet for Bitcoin, tried to implement a system like this back in 2016. Less than a year later, the company folded as it found itself unable to keep running.

In Multibit’s case, the massive loss of users that came with its fee structure caused some of the problems. Also, Multibit had recently been acquired by another company, which might have changed the way the product itself was seen.

However, a question remains, which is whether Multibit would have been able to stay afloat with user numbers surging. This is important to consider, as it is possible that Multibit was simply not doing well already.

Still, many developers got a message from this: Users aren’t willing to pay for what used to be free. As it is, many see the idea of implementing such a fee as a potentially suicidal move.

There are other arguments, perhaps less convincing. The stronger ones relate to how such fees would be charged, and whether other fees could make sense, too. They attempt to extrapolate the same logic of “developers need to eat” into any set of charges, including government taxes.

Smart Contracts, Smart fees

Since the blockchain community has long shunned the idea of government regulation or taxes on crypto earnings, it’s easy to see why this got some sway. However, this argument suffers from the slippery slope fallacy. It assumes that allowing any kind of fees to be collected would imply collecting others, including government fees.

This logic is flat-out wrong, as crypto fees could start being charged at any time for legitimate reasons. But more importantly, if governments wanted to regulate cryptocurrencies and levy taxes on them, they’ll just do it. The IRS guys aren’t sitting in their chairs waiting for a blockchain to implement this so they can start taxing.

Another angle to explore might be the smart contracts opening. Many organizations already use smart contracts as innovated by Ethereum blockchain. Organizations could be levied to pay some sort of subscription fees for usage. This might free up funds to supplement developer’s earnings.

Fees paid by corporate users can be managed by Ethereum foundation and channeled to identified developers transparently. This might be a better middle-of-the-road approach so that fee-paying doesn’t turn people away from wallet usage.

The Takeaway

This is certainly not the first time that fees on crypto transactions are bandied. It won’t be the last, either. The community is divided, and always will be about it. However, the one question that should be asked is -what might be better long-term?

Vitalik’s proposal was an optional one but carries weight because of who he is. He didn’t want a rule where transactions are fee-based, but instead for crypto developers to band together and make it a standard. It still was poorly received. In the years ahead, Vitalik might be viewed as a prophet you knew the way to go.

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

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May 01, 2019 at 01:28AM

BitPay Partners with Refundo for Federal and State Income Tax Refunds in Bitcoin

2019-04-30T12:54:00.001-07:00

Atlanta, April 30, 2019 – BitPay, the largest global blockchain payments provider, today announced Refundo, a leading provider of tax related financial products, is making federal and state tax refunds available in Bitcoin directly to taxpayers through BitPay’s Payouts. Refundo taxpayers can receive all or a portion of the federal and state tax refunds in Bitcoin using Refundo’s CoinRT product.

“We are thrilled to power Refundo’s CoinRT product. Refundo can now offer their customers a Bitcoin Payout for their tax refunds, meeting their customers’ demand for a more digital choice,” said Rolf Haag, Head of Business Solutions at BitPay. “Refundo’s integration joins existing BitPay Payouts used in global marketplace, affiliate programs and payroll, highlighting the high-speed and low cost of Payouts in Bitcoin. Whether they’re going around the corner or around the globe.”

Refundo emphasizes speed, low transaction fees, and serving the underbanked. By creating transparent and seamless experiences during tax season, underbanked customers are feeling more comfortable with payout processes. Most importantly, Refundo focuses on listening to the banking needs of low-income communities and serving them the best way possible, so anything that promotes and bridges this gap, is always on their radar.

“Refundo offers several options to help taxpayers receive their tax refunds safer, faster and more conveniently,” said, Roger Chinchilla, CEO at Refundo. “Adding Bitcoin was a natural fit for our customers who often do not have traditional checking accounts, pay high check cashing fees and regularly send money internationally. CoinRT enables them to get Bitcoin quickly and easily for one flat fee.”

Through Refundo, taxpayers create an account and are assigned a unique routing and account number to input on their tax return. Customers also provide all necessary background details for Know-Your-Customer Regulations as well as a Bitcoin wallet address. Once the IRS or state deposit the refund, BitPay processes the payment and the cryptocurrency is deposited into the taxpayers’ Bitcoin wallet.

Global businesses use their Dollars, Euro or other currency to fund BitPay’s Mass Payouts to Bitcoin for a simple 1% fee. Bitcoin is ideal for domestic and cross-border Mass Payouts because it is quicker, easier and more transparent than most mass payment methods. Bitcoin provides transactional transparency as every transaction is verified, recorded and stored on the blockchain. The transaction itself contains no sensitive personal information.

About Refundo

Refundo is a leading provider of tax related financial products and services. Founded in 2011, Refundo provides taxpayers and tax professionals products like: refund advances, refund transfers, payment processing, audit assistance, and a white-label mobile app to help connect tax business with their clients. Refundo has raised over $65 million to advance their mission of serving low-income communities nationwide. For more information, visit https://refundo.com/

About BitPay

Founded in 2011, BitPay is the pioneer and the most experienced company in bitcoin and blockchain payments. Its suite of products enables businesses to send and receive cross border payments, also enabling consumers to manage digital assets with the BitPay Wallet and turn digital assets into dollars with the BitPay Prepaid Visa® Card. The company has offices in North America, Europe, and South America and has raised over $70 million from leading investors including Founders Fund, Index Ventures, and Aquiline Technology Growth. For more information visit https://bitpay.com

The BitPay Visa® Prepaid Card is issued by Metropolitan Commercial Bank, member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Visa, U.S.A. Inc. “Metropolitan” and “Metropolitan Commercial Bank” are registered trademarks of Metropolitan Commercial Bank © 2014. Use of the Card is subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable Cardholder Agreement and fee schedule, if any.

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

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May 01, 2019 at 01:16AM

We Wanted to Overthrow the Dictators, but Did We Create New Ones?

2019-04-30T00:54:00.001-07:00

Satoshi Nakamoto had a dream. A dream that one day, a few elites wouldn’t have a stranglehold on the monetary system used by billions. A dream that one day, people would rely on a trustless system that the elites couldn’t manipulate. And to bring his dream to reality, he (or she, or they) gave us bitcoin.

A decade later, more than 2,000 cryptocurrencies have sprouted, all offering different solutions. Satoshi’s invention, bitcoin, still towers over all of them. And while the world is yet to fully embrace cryptos as the preferred payment method, we’ve still made great progress.

However, as we move into a decentralized world of freedom, elitism and centralized controls are yet to be stamped out. In fact, if anything, we may just be redefining the elites.

The first thing that springs to mind is the recent Bitcoin SV debacle. The crypto has been delisted from a number of exchanges in the past month. A number of payment processors have also ceased support of the crypto. This is well within their prerogative.

However, it’s the genesis of this wave of BSV delisting that’s interesting. Binance was the first exchange to take the stand, and again, this was well within its right. It announced a fortnight ago that it would cease support for BSV on its platform.

The Elites

It’s the involvement of Binance’s CEO and founder that brings out the elitism that exists in the crypto space. Changpeng Zhao, fondly known as CZ, has always been vocal about his dislike for Craig Wright, the self-declared Satoshi Nakamoto. Wright, who is central to the BSV community has been one to attract love or hate in great proportion. Just before Binance delisted BSV, CZ tweeted:

Master piece! You have my full support, Peter.

To be clear, I don't choose sides on technology. We let market do that. I am against fraud, such as lying to be someone. As such, it is my strong opinion that:

Craig Wright is fraud. https://t.co/f9ihSD6Pr3

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) April 15, 2019

Again, CZ as an individual is entitled to have an opinion. After all, we can’t, as the crypto and blockchain community, preach freedom if we can’t let people voice their opinions. However, just days later, CZ’s Binance delisted BSV.

BSV is much more than Craig Wright. There’s a community behind it that can no longer trade on the largest platform globally just because CZ believes Wright is a fraud. And then, the saga continued. A number of other exchanges, Kraken included, delisted BSV to follow in the footsteps of the crypto world’s Mark Zuckerberg. Kraken was the most interesting, having conducted a Twitter poll as the basis of its decision. Again, an entire community was affected by events that had nothing to do with them.

And not to be misconstrued, I’m in no way taking sides. However, we can’t criticize JPMorgan Chase for closing the account of a crypto startup for no apparent reason and then turn a blind eye to what’s happening within the industry.

The BSV case isn’t unique. Centralized exchanges have become the very enemies we created cryptos to fight. Many a time, crypto projects have had their chances of mass adoption depend solely on whether they can afford the listing fee on major exchanges.

Vitalik Buterin, the celebrated Ethereum founder once stated:

“We can really take away this stupid king-making power that these centralized exchanges have where they have this ability to just decide which tokens become big by deciding to list them and then charging these crazy $10 million to $15 million listing fees. The more we can get away from that world and into something which actually satisfies the blockchain values of openness and transparency the better.”

Alex Wang, a founder of Ember Fund, a crypto hedge fund that seeks to make investing available for the masses, wrote:

“99% of exchanges and products in the cryptocurrency space are custodial. They are bigger, more well funded and although well-intentioned(?), we’re heading right back to the paradigm of pre-2008 centralized banking. In fact, some would argue we’re already there.”

What Now?

And he may be right. We could be replacing what we abhorred about the big banks, and the big techs as well, with a savvier and ‘cooler’ version. The CZs and Brian Armstrongs of the crypto world have replaced the Jamie Dimons and Timothy Sloans of the banking world.

Alex Mashinsky, the founder of the Celsius Network crypto startup sees the new crypto wave as just a rebirth of the same bad ideas that brought turmoil in the past. In an interview with Forbes, he stated:

“A lot of what the crypto community is seeing in traditional crypto markets is just a rebirth of bad ideas from the 1800s, all being used to take advantage of the fact that regulations don’t cover loopholes. […]We are seeing a lot of conflict of interest concentrated most with exchanges where people don’t understand that these entities don’t act in their best interest.”

So, what can we do? For one, we must stand up against the subtle wielding of power by a few elites who have made themselves the kingpins of the crypto community. Allowing one person to condemn a whole community for the transgressions of an individual goes against everything Nakamoto envisioned.

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

The post We Wanted to Overthrow the Dictators, but Did We Create New Ones? appeared first on NullTX.

April 30, 2019 at 01:19PM

Electrum Wallet Botnet Infects 150,000 Machines, Steals $4.6 Million in User Funds

2019-04-29T23:24:00.001-07:00

A botnet that has been targeting Electrum users just won’t quit. If anything, it seems to be picking up more hosts along the way and getting stronger. In the past month, the number of infected hosts has averaged 100,000. On April 24, the number went up to 152,000 according to a report by security firm Malwarebytes Labs. Since detection on April 4, the botnet has stolen over $4.6 million in users’ funds.

As we reported earlier this month, Electrum announced on Twitter that it had suffered a denial of service (DoS) attack. At the time, the botnet behind the attack had pooled together the power of 140,000 machines. It targeted Electrum clients who were using the old version of the wallet.

And now, according to Malwarebytes, there are two distribution campaigns that are fueling the botnet. The two, known as Smoke Loader and RIG exploit kit, are dropping the ElectrumDoSMiner malware. The team also identified a loader it named Trojan.BeamWinHTTP that’s involved in downloading the malware.

(Image courtesy of Malwarebytes Labs)

As shown in the graph, the researchers have only identified a handful of methods that the hackers have used to distribute the malware onto Electrum users’ machines. However, the number of malicious binaries downloading the Trojan could be in their hundreds.

Through analysis of the IP addresses, the team discovered that the malware was predominant in the Asia Pacific region. Away from this region, Brazil and Peru also have a high concentration. Egypt also has a significant number of malware hosts.

The Rise of DoS Attacks

The team further explained:

The number of victims that are part of this botnet is constantly changing. We believe as some machines get cleaned up, new ones are getting infected and joining the others to perform DoS attacks. Malwarebytes detects and removes ElectrumDoSMiner infections on more than 2,000 endpoints daily.

And indeed, the Malwarebytes team has been actively fighting the malware. The graph below shows their progress on three different days.

(Image courtesy of Malwarebytes Labs)

Developers believe the attack was retribution by the hackers after Electrum developers thwarted their initial plans. Speaking earlier in the month, Electrum lead developer explained, “We are not sure what motivates the attacker. It might be some kind of retaliation after we took steps last month in order to prevent phishing attacks. This counter-attack has been effective against phishing because it does not require a lot of legit servers.”

The Malwarebytes believes that though the attack has been massive, media outlets have underreported on the issue.

“Crooks wasted no time in exploiting a vulnerability in Electrum wallets to phish unsuspecting users. What followed next with retribution attacks on Electrum servers was unexpected but logical, considering what is at stake. While these DDoS attacks have not been publicized much by mainstream media, they have undoubtedly caused millions of dollars in losses over the span of just a few months.”

DDoS attacks have become the biggest threat to cybersecurity, a survey earlier in the year showed. The survey by the Neustar International Security Council (NISC) found that 75 percent of cybersecurity experts believe DDoS attacks pose the largest threat. Half the companies sampled had suffered a DDoS attack of some sort in 2018.

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

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April 30, 2019 at 11:48AM

Bitcoin Price Watch: Currency Trails, but Remains Over $5,000

2019-04-29T12:04:00.001-07:00

At press time, the father of cryptocurrency is trading for just over $5,130. This marks a bit of a fall since our last price piece, when bitcoin had hit a new high of roughly $5,500.

It has certainly been something of an up-and-down game for bitcoin over the past few months, though for the most part, it appears to have solidified its position at the top of the financial ladder. Following a lengthy trading period in the mid-$3,000 range, bitcoin ultimately shot up beyond $5,000 in early April of this year. While there have been some small stumbles along the way, the currency has managed to retain its position above this line for the past several weeks.

Chart by alanmasters

In other words, bitcoin is keeping up its momentum and withstanding the tests the bears seek to throw at it.

Bitcoin bull and Fundstrat analyst Tom Lee is at it again, predicting that bitcoin will spike to new all-time highs in the year 2020. Among the reasons he suggests 2020 as “the year for bitcoin” include the halving set to take place in approximately 390 days, and the fact that many third-world nations – particularly Venezuela and Turkey – have increased their usage of the cryptocurrency.

While the idea of bitcoin spiking beyond $20,000 (its previous all-time high set in December 2017) is certainly exciting, one must consider where this idea is coming from. Lee, with all respect, has had just as much failure in predicting bitcoin’s future price moves as he does success. In 2018, a year he calls “terrible” for bitcoin, Lee predicted that the price would reach $20,000, then lowered his prediction to $15,000 when we reached the latter half and things still looked dreary.

2018 ultimately ended on a rough note, with bitcoin losing more than 80 percent of its value and trading for less than $3,500 by mid-November.

That’s not to say, however, that Lee won’t be correct this time around. In truth, higher trading volumes in developing nations is likely to stir the currency’s pot a little further. Granted the trading momentum can remain intact, we may see some price spikes throughout the year and into 2020.

In addition, we are now noticing several steps initiated by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) to push Bakkt’s approval and release date. Among them is the platform’s acquiring of a crypto custodian service known as the Digital Asset Custody Company. It’s also working to ensure Bakkt is fully registered within the state of New York. This includes obtaining the infamous BitLicense.

CEO of Bakkt Kelly Loeffler comments:

There is no pivot. From the ground up, what ICE has been building for two years is the safest version of a custody solution for digital assets.

Bitcoin Charts by TradingView

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

The post Bitcoin Price Watch: Currency Trails, but Remains Over $5,000 appeared first on NullTX.

April 30, 2019 at 12:29AM

Tiny Robots in the Bloodstream can Efficiently Deliver Drugs to Tumors

2019-04-29T11:04:00.001-07:00

Scientific developments can come in many different forms, shapes, and sizes. Some breakthroughs are more impactful than others, although any form of scientific research needs to be applauded in recognized. MIT Engineers have come up with a way to deliver drugs to tumors and disease sites through tiny robots in the bloodstream. Nanoparticles are very fascinating technology.

Tiny Robots in the Bloodstream

It is rather interesting to see how scientists are trying to fine-tune drug delivery systems inside the human body. To this date, there are still a lot of different aspects which can be improved upon, albeit that is often easier said than done. MIT Engineers have now come up with a new way of dealing drugs to tumors and other disease sites directly. It improves upon the existing solution and yields a much higher chance of success in the process.

To put this in perspective, the engineers have come up with a way to deploy tiny robots in the bloodstream. These small robots swim through a body’s bloodstream and drag nanoparticles along with them. As such, this new method of delivering drugs allows the particles to accumulate in the right place. To date, it is difficult for the payload to get to its destination due to the lining of the blood vessel.

While some people might not be comfortable with the idea of having tiny robots crawl through their bloodstream, the initial tests have been rather successful. This research has been ongoing for several years now, yet it is the first time any real success is achieved. Making nanoparticle drug delivery more efficient has been an active field of study where achieving any breakthrough has proven to be extremely difficult.

Under normal circumstances, research point nanoparticles at disease sites surrounded by “leaky’ blood vessels. In doing so, the particles have an easier time getting into the tissue, yet a fair bit of the drug payload is lost in the process. Any improvement to be achieved in that regard will be beneficial to both researchers and patients. Since this is not an invasive procedure either, there is a lot of potential waiting to be unlocked in the future.

It is also interesting to note how the tiny robots in question are 3D printed. Once printed, the robots are coated with nickel to make them magnetic. Because of this magnetic trait, the robots can help push the particles out of the bloodstream and into the targeted area. All robots can be controlled by applying an external magnetic field.

All things considered, this is another pretty big breakthrough in the world of science. How this technology will be applied in the future, has yet to be determined at this time. There are many options being looked into, although it may take many more years until these tiny robots are effectively used to deliver drugs to tumors and other disease sites.

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

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April 29, 2019 at 11:30PM

Bitcoin Price Drops Again for no Apparent Reason

2019-04-29T08:34:00.001-07:00

Even though most cryptocurrency users expected some positive momentum to materialize, that will not be the case as of yet. In fact, the Bitcoin price, which dictates the pace for all currencies, is on the decline as well. Although the losses are still relatively small right now, it is evident the overall momentum is not necessarily pleasing too many users.

Bitcoin Price Momentum Remains Uncertain

When the world’s leading cryptocurrency dips ever so slightly in the red, alternative markets are usually quick to follow suit. As of right now, it is evident the bearish pressure affecting Bitcoin will wreak havoc among altcoins for several hours to come. Even if Bitcoin were to regain some lost value, it seems unlikely the alternative markets will fare well. Not the outlook most people are looking for, but there isn’t much to be done about it.

As far as the Bitcoin price is concerned, it would appear there is a minor amount of bearish pressure to contend with. This minor 1.14% decrease in value will not necessarily cause that many problems in the near future, but for altcoins, it can be quite catastrophic. With a current Bitcoin value of $5,241, one has to wonder what will happen next to the world’s leading cryptocurrency in the days up ahead.

The uneasy market momentum triggers a lot of interesting backlash on social media. CryptoHarmonic sees some interesting market momentum shaping up right now, although the charts never tell the full story of what is going on. While the Bitcoin Dominance Index is certainly on the rise once again, it will be interesting to see how things look in a day or two from now.

$BTC price still moving inside the 4H channel and playing some trends on the 1H…$BTC dominance still going up…#blockchain #bitcoin #cryptocurrency pic.twitter.com/4T2TK5LRBN

— Cryptoharonic (@CryptoTradingDJ) April 29, 2019

Kay Kurokawa has come up with an interesting way of comparing student debts, banks, and Bitcoin. Although the comparison makes a lot of sense to cryptocurrency enthusiasts, there will be plenty of other people who remain confident banks are still the go-to financial solution. regardless of how bad things may look. Longing Bitcoin is never a bad thing, although one always needs to do their own research first and foremost.

Long bitcoin, short student debt.

— Kay Kurokawa (@kaykurokawa) April 29, 2019

As far as actual Bitcoin memes are concerned, Pete has come up with one that will tickle the funny bone of Bitcoin Maximalists. Saying “nyet to shitcoins” has become a somewhat popular meme as of late, even though there are plenty of alternative projects which are effectively worth checking out these days. Diversification is crucial in the cryptocurrency world at all times, after all.

#Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/ljyn8oT8SN

— Pete (@reiichini) April 29, 2019

Even though there is no real reason for a new Bitcoin value decline, there is always a chance the bears will remain in control for a longer period. Although the current losses shouldn’t make anyone panic just yet, a drop to below $5,000 will not necessarily be unlikely either. Over the coming hours, things will get very interesting regardless of what individual traders may want to see happen.

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

The post Bitcoin Price Drops Again for no Apparent Reason appeared first on NullTX.

April 29, 2019 at 09:04PM