Coinme has launched an expansion of its operations in Florida by installing over 300 Coinstar Kiosks enabled with Bitcoin. Coinme now runs more than 6000 Bitcoin ATMs across the United States.
Coinme, a US-based operator for Bitcoin, announced that they were expanding their operations into Florida. To this end, the company launched over 300 Coinstar Kiosks that were enabled for Bitcoin. These ATMs have been distributed across various state cities, including Orlando, Miami, Tampa, and Jacksonville.
The ATMs were strategically located in major grocery outlets such as Winn Dixie, Harveys, and Fresco y Mas. By doing this, Coinme aims at making Bitcoin readily available as a payment method in groceries around the country.
A significant move for the company
In the press release dated April 7, 2021, Coinme stated that its team was committed to working with regulating agencies in launching the bitcoin-enabled Coinstar kiosks around Florida. The company added that they had been licensed to provide a platform where Florida residents would easily trade with Bitcoin.
According to Neil Bergquist, the CEO of Coinme and also the co-founder, the partnership with Coinstar will power the firm’s expansion into new areas. This partnership will also help them meet the increasing demand for the use of digital currencies.
The announcement referred to a recent survey done by Coinstar, in which they revealed that 23% of people who bought Bitcoin did so from a Bitcoin ATM. The increasing demand for Bitcoin had also pooled many first-time investors searching for a safe and secure way to purchase this cryptocurrency. With Bitcoin-enabled Coinstar kiosks, Florida residents now had an easy and safe way to purchase Bitcoin.
The expansion of Coinme comes at a perfect time when the retail demand for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is increasing. After a bullish trend in Bitcoin during the first quarter of 2021, its price is almost $60,000. However, Coinme needs to launch campaigns that will push people towards using Bitcoin ATMs.
The use of Bitcoin ATMs remains to be generally low. This low demand is a result of these kiosks charging higher fees as compared to cryptocurrency exchanges. However, a significant percentage of people still preferred purchasing cryptocurrencies from Bitcoin ATM kiosks.
Coinme runs the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States. It is fully licensed and was founded in 2014. Coinme’s objective is to make sure that it is easy, secure, and accessible for people to purchase digital currencies.
The United States Government has identified a cryptocurrency malware used by the North Korean government to steal crypto for Pyongyang.
US Agencies Report “AppleJeus” Malware In Detail
Areport developed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Treasury Department revealed that the crypto-malware called ‘AppleJeus’ was disguised as a legitimate-looking crypto trading software to facilitate cryptocurrency thefts.
First deployed in 2018, AppleJeus has been camouflaged using seven different official-sounding names. The names include Celas Trade Pro, JMT Trading, Union Crypto, Kupay Wallet, CoinGoTrade, Dorusio, and Ants2Whale.
AppleJeus mostly appeared to be from a legitimate cryptocurrency trading company to trick people into downloading it as a third-party application from websites that seemed genuine.
Apart from baiting people through third-party apps, the malware also used phishing, social networking, and social engineering techniques to lure users into downloading it.
The report detailed Hidden Cobra, the North Korean sponsored cyber unit also known as Lazarus Group, to have stolen and laundered hundreds of millions worth of cryptocurrency since January of last year.
The Lazarus Group hackers targeted individuals and companies, such as crypto exchanges and financial service firms, and ultimately committed criminal acts in 32 countries across different continents.
The countries exploited by Hidden Cobra since January 2020 according to the US include Argentina, Australia, Belgium, and others.
North Korea’s Malicious Campaigns To Fund Nuclear Weapons
The US government has continuously put in efforts to counter malicious campaigns deployed by the North Korean government.
North Korean operators have previously stolen an estimated $2 billion following at least 35 cyberattacks on banks and cryptocurrency exchanges across more than a dozen countries. This is according to a UN report seen byReuters in 2019.
The Northeast Asian nation also repeatedly laundered stolen cryptocurrencies to fund its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs in 2020. The government uses cryptocurrency as a vehicle to continue its nuclear weapons projects.
According to a panel of UNexperts in an AP report, the North Korean-linked cyber actors continued to launch malicious attacks from 2019 to 2020 on financial institutions and crypto exchanges to generate money to support its weapons of mass destruction.
The UN experts added that North Korea’s virtual assets’ total theft from 2019 to November 2020 is valued at approximately $316.4 million.
The US Treasury also reportedlysanctioned three North Korean hacking groups (Lazarus Group, Bluenoroff, and Andariel) for funneling stolen financial assets to Pyongyang that same year.
Exodus, a crypto wallet provider, has received approval from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to sell operational shares. Investors can now buy these shares from Exodus’s wallet.
The SEC has given Exodus the green light to start selling its operation shares to interested investors. People who want to purchase these shares will do so from the crypto wallet.
According to a statement released by the company, it had received approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to start offering Class A common stock under the guidelines of Regulation A. Exodus shares began trading in the U.S. market on the night of April 8.
Exodus shifts from a crypto wallet to listing shares
Exodus used to be a crypto desktop wallet that crypto users would use to hold their digital currencies. One of the strongholds of Exodus as a crypto wallet is that it is compatible with multiple assets. Exodus also makes it possible for users to switch to different assets on the platform.
According to the statement, Exodus had added a new feature in their wallet where they will allow users to purchase shares. This will be an innovative and transformative move for the company. Exodus filed its request with the SEC in February, where they sought to have a ‘Regulated A’ offering. With Regulation A, Exodus would be exempted from guidelines given to firms that sell unregistered shares.
According to the statement released on April 8, the company stated that each Class A common stock price would go for $27.42. The minimum number of shares an investor can buy is one, while the maximum number is 2,722,229 shares.
Besides, any investor who seeks to purchase the shares needs to seek register with Securitize, Exodus’s transfer agent. To register, an investor can use the Exodus wallet, or they can go directly to Securitize.
The major limitation regarding these shares is that they can only be bought by U.S residents. Besides, people residing in states such as Texas, Florida, and Arizona will be exempted from the offering.
However, the firm added that they were exploring other avenues that will enable them to expand into other regions. The firm affirmed that they were committed to raising the availability of Class A common stock to multiple ATS within nine months of offering.
The crypto market space is witnessing more companies going public and increasing their reach. Coinbase, one of the most popular crypto wallets, will also have a debut for its direct listing on April 14.
Compound has made history as the first DeFi platform to record more than $10 billion in TVL. The figures come after the DeFi platform recorded gradual growth over several months.
Compound (COMP) has made history after becoming the first DeFi platform to record a Total Value Locked (TVL) of over $10 billion. TVL is used to measure the value of assets associated with offered products on the DeFi platform.
A high TVL means that the demand for Compound is on the rise. This is an impressive milestone for the firm, given that they have recorded steady growths since January 2021. With this figure, Compound will become the most popular DeFi protocol. At the beginning of the year, Compound had a TVL of below $2 billion.
Compound’s TVL growth represents a five-fold increase in the total assets staked on the platform in less than four months. Compound’s price has also been gradually growing. The price shot from $150 in January to $449 in April 2021. The market capitalization for Compound also sits at $2.29 billion as of April 2021.
The growing popularity of DeFi
The popularity of DeFi platforms and products has dramatically risen in recent months, and Compound’s current performance is evidence of this. Data from DeFi Pulse shows that the TVL across all DeFi protocols stands at over $52 billion. The aggregate TVL has risen by more than 350% since January this year.
Prominent lending DeFi platforms such as Compound, Maker, and AAVE account for almost half of the aggregate TVL.
Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) rank in second place, with protocols such as Uniswap, Curve Finance, and SUSHI account for more than 28%. To tap into this arena’s growth, major investment companies are also shifting their operations into the DeFi Space.
Grayscale, a global crypto-asset platform, started an investment trust for AAVE assets in its primary way of investing in the DeFi platform. After AAVE, Grayscale also adopted other DeFi investment trusts such as SUSHI, Uniswap, and COMP.
The growth of DeFi is expected to continue into the future, seeing that the crypto market has been performing exceedingly well. Even though most crypto investors focused on Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT), the demand for DeFi has started to rise again steadily.
The statistics posted by DeFi Pulse also show that new De-Fi projects are joining the market. This makes DeFi an excellent destination for investors who want to achieve record investments in the future.
XRP has enjoyed an incredible price shoot over the weekend and has become the best-performing cryptocurrency. Ripple has also won a ‘Discovery case’ against the SEC.
This weekend has been great for the cryptocurrency market, and XRP remains at the top of the list as the best performer. The currency is experiencing a daily price hike of around 30%. The price hike is being attributed to Ripple’s legal victory against the SEC and talks about the token being relisted at other exchanges.
The growth chart of XRP has been very impressive. At the time of writing, the crypto had reached a record high mark of $1.43.
The two major cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum, have a mere price hike of only 2.7% and 3.4%, respectively, while XRP is recording a weekly growth rate of 111% and an annual growth rate of 544%. The price surge also places XRP as the fourth cryptocurrency in terms of market cap.
Ripple’s victory weekend
Besides XRP’s exemplary performance, Ripple also had a great weekend. The company won a lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC had filed a case against Ripple where they alleged that the company had sold over $1.3 billion in unregistered securities.
According to the SEC, Ripple used XRP as security since using proceeds from investors to promote business growth. After the lawsuit, Ripple was delisted from major exchange platforms, and XRP lost its value in the cryptocurrency chart.
Before the lawsuit, XRP ranked as the third-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market cap. This dropped to below 7th place after the case.
In March 2021, Ripple’s CEO, Bard Garlinghouse, also stated that the firm would be parting ways with MoneyGram. Ripple’s partnership with MoneyGram is one of the initial factors that had attracted investors to the platform. Ending the partnership was, therefore, very detrimental to Ripple and XRP.
However, the dark days for Ripple and XRP seem to be behind them as investors gain more confidence in this crypto. The firm has won two major cases against the SEC where the company was given access to SEC records regarding cryptocurrencies.
The SEC was also barred tom disclosing the financial details of Ripple’s executives.
Even with the bullish trend of cryptocurrencies, the market volatility in this space remains a constant factor that affects prices. However, XRP’s growth curve is setting a bright future for this crypto.
Spain is seeing a surge when it comes to the widespread usage of decentralized technologies, but this isn’t in reference to cryptocurrencies in particular. Businesses across the nation are making use of blockchain technology in general, with everything from corporations, municipalities, industries, and public universities all tapping into this fundamental technology in some way. Of course, this allows for the crypto ecosystem within it to only diversify further.
Spain Very Much For Blockchain Technology
IDC Spain stands as a business consulting firm and has recently revealed through a report that around 46% of all large Spain-based companies are in favour of adding the usage of blockchain and cryptographic technologies to increase the overall security within their respective platforms.
The report itself boasts the title of “State of the Art Blockchain and Cryptographic Technologies in Spain” and IDC had published the piece with the partnership of REALSEC, a technology company. The report evaluates the evolution of blockchain technologies within the companies of Spain, showing that the figures have only improved since the first edition of this report was released.
Massive Amounts Of Active Blockchain Usage
The report highlighted that a total of 1 in every 4 companies within Spain have had exposure to blockchain technologies in some way, shape, or form. Another important metric is the amount of the nation’s business sector actively taking part and using blockchain technology, which stands at 11%. This is 1% more than was recorded around 18 months ago.
The report went further, noting that a total of 17% of all logistics companies within the nation are expected to have some sort of relationship with a blockchain company, or otherwise provide their own IoT service.
A New Age For Spain’s Blockchain
Jesús Rodríguez stands as the CEO of Realsec and gave a statement about the matter at large through an interview the company published on its official website. In this interview, Rodríguez stated that a lot of work needs to be done to increase the efficiency of the Spanish industry’s blockchain solutions, even if it is increasing in overall adoption. Furthermore, Rodríguez noted that space still needs to prove itself capable of competing against other more traditional and centralized solutions out there.
Now, something to keep in mind is that Spain as a whole is very much for blockchain technology in general, just not cryptocurrencies. The country has taken a hard stance to tax crypto trading, making use of AI solutions to help achieve this, but it’s also promoting a regulatory sandbox to promote blockchain technology, as well. While many see it as one and the same, and it’s used as such, blockchain and cryptocurrencies are two technologies that just happen to work incredibly well in tandem.
A US District Court for the District of Nevada has fined Circle Society and owner David Gilbert Saffron for operating a cryptocurrency ponzi scheme. This is according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Circle Society Ponzi Scheme
The regulatorstated that both the Nevada-based corporation and its operator have to pay $32 million as ordered by the court.
Saffron, an Australian citizen, residing in the US, started the firm Circle society to offer binary options on forex and cryptocurrency pairs. Both he and the company allegedly deceived investors to send funds in order to participate in a commodity pool, with promises of high returns.
Since 2017 when Circle society was created, Saffron has reportedly duped investors of at least $15.8 million from about 179 people. According to the CFTC, he diverted investor funds to his crypto wallet to pay other participants “in the manner of a Ponzi scheme.”
The court’s final judgment requires defendants Saffron and Circle Society, jointly and severally, to pay restitution claims of more than $14.8 million to defrauded pool participants and disgorgement fine of $15.8 million, and a civil monetary fine of over $1.48 million.
The judgment also enjoined the defendants from registering with the CFTC or trading on any other CFTC-regulated entities.
However, the CFTC has told victims not to expect much as they might not be able to get their full funds back.
“The CFTC cautions victims that restitution orders may not result in the recovery of any money lost because the wrongdoers may not have sufficient funds or assets,” the statement read.
The regulatorfiled the civil enforcement action against Saffron and Circle Society in 2019, alleging that Saffron solicited and accepted a minimum of $11 million in Bitcoin and US dollars with other defendants’ help in the company.
The CFTC Chairman Heath Tarbert had then said that fraudulent schemes like Saffron and his company do not only cheat innocent people out of their hard-earned money, but they also threaten to undermine the development of new and innovative markets.
Spike In Crypto-Related Scams
Cybercrime seems to have increased since the advent of cryptocurrency as it is constantly being used to scam people. Even though regulators continue to warn users against crypto scams and, in fact, scams in general, people are still falling victims.
Even though fraudulent activities had existed before crypto came along a decade ago, many crypto owners are falling victims because many retail investors have knowledge gaps. With the fear of missing out (FOMO) surrounding digital tokens, crypto investors are readily suckered into deals with these fraudsters promising huge returns.
Last month, the CFTCordered fraudulent Bitcoin trader Benjamin Reynolds to pay $572 million in penalty and restitution for a crime he committed in 2017. He was ordered to pay a $429 Million fine penalty and an additional $142 million as restitution to victims.
Riot Blockchain Inc has disclosed its plans of acquiring Bitcoin mining facility Whinstone Inc for about $651 million.
The $651 Million Whinstone Acquisition
The Whinstone acquisition includes both cash payments and stock options, Riot explained in a press release.
Riot would buy all of Whinstone’s assets and operations for $80 million in cash plus a fixed 11.8 million shares of Riot common stock.
The transaction is expected to be concluded in Q2 of 2021, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of Riot Blockchain, Jason Les, the company plans to make Whinstone the foundation of its Bitcoin mining operations upon which its global mining expansion goals would be.
“After the consummation of this transaction, we will have created a very clear path for the company’s future growth. Riot will wholly own the largest Bitcoin mining facility in North America, with very low power costs, and one of the most talented development teams in the industry.”
Whitestone’s co-founder Chad Harris also commented on the deal, expressing his excitement and optimism. He stated that Riot’s strategic vision and resources combined with Whinstone’s infrastructure strength would allow the combined teams to achieve shared growth plans.
Whinstone is based in Rockdale, Texas, and its facility is located on a 100-acre site, hosting Bitcoin mining customers in three buildings totaling 190,000 square feet. It has a power capacity of 750 MW, with 300 MW currently developed, an important asset for energy-intensive Bitcoin mining.
Riot Forges Ahead With Growth And Expansion Plans
With this purchase, Riot predicts that it would become the largest publicly traded Bitcoin mining and hosting company in North America, measured by total developed capacity.
The company’s mining operations have grown in recent months, and this Whinstone purchase order marks a milestone in the continued expansion of Riot’s mining operations.
Riot recentlyannounced a milestone purchase for $138.5 million worth of mining equipment. 42,000 S19j Antminers was purchased from Chinese mining company Bitmain Technologies Limited as part of a strategic move to increase its Bitcoin mining hash rate. When fully deployed, these miners will increase Riot’s computing power to an estimated 7.7 million tera hashes per second (TH/s), or about 4.6% of the network’s current total.
The company is also set to receive a minimum of 3,500 S19j Antminers monthly starting from November 2021 and will continue through October 2022, as per the terms of the purchase agreement.
Along with the price of Bitcoin, mining operations have been steadily on the rise. As more Bitcoin miners enter the space, the overall hash rate is expected to rise.
A new class-action lawsuit has been filed against e-commerce platform Shopify and crypto wallet platform Ledger. The lawsuit filed surrounds breach of customer data.
Shopify and Ledger are facing a lawsuit over customer data breach, which occurred last year. The security breach is alleged to cause many users to fall victim to phishing attempts disguised as Ledger’s emails. The class-action lawsuit against Shopify and Ledger seeks compensation to users who lost funds due to the phishing attempts. The data breach led to a leak of personal data of over 270,000 users.
Details of the case
The plaintiffs, in this case, are John Chu and Edward Baton, who seek compensation for the losses they accrued as a result of the data breach. The case has been presented at a court in North California. According to the plaintiffs, their losses were not caused by vulnerabilities in the Ledger wallets. It happened after their data was leaked after the security breach, leading to phishing attacks.
In July last year, Ledger suffered a significant breach of the customer’s database. The breach happened during the summer, where Shopify employees facilitated the exploited vulnerability on Ledger’s database. In a blog post published by Ledger in January, the company stated that the exposure enabled hackers to access their clients’ data.
Some of the information that they were able to retrieve includes email addresses, phone numbers, shipping addresses, and more. Some of the data was sold to other hackers on the dark web, while other hackers posted it free on hacking forums.
As a result of the hack, one of the plaintiffs, John Chu, lost 4.2 BTC and 11 ETH that had a combined value of $267,000 at the time. The second plaintiff lost 150,000 XLM tokens. The plaintiffs stated that Ledger did not take full accountability for the breach, and they were not transparent about it.
For this reason, the plaintiffs are seeking compensation for the losses they suffered. The lawsuit stated that Ledger’s attempt to hide the breach’s full scope caused considerable damages to their customers. The legal document adds that if Ledger had taken responsibility for the breach early enough, the extent of damage could have been lower.
At the moment, it is not clear as to whether Ledger understood the full impact of the attack after it happened. However, in a January blog post, the company admitted that they had downplayed the damage the security breach had caused.
Ledger states that they understood the full scope of the damage after the details of 270,000 customer accounts were published and sold on hacking platforms.
Ever since March of last year, where most of the world’s markets crashed heavily on the realisation of Covid-19’s impact, the appetite for risky investment has been extremely low. Many have been waiting to see how the global economy recovers from the pandemic, and the signs are starting to show.
In the US, the powerhouse of trading and investment, there has been special attention paid to government policy in regards to the handling of the pandemic. The new Biden administration has put through a new stimulus plan, but also spelled out a new infrastructure plan that ranges in at $2.2 trillion.
US policies have already played their part with the markets, and as PrimeXBT analyst Kim Chua notes,after the hiccup regarding rising yields sending risk assets correcting lower, the markets are back to risk-on mode again after Biden announced his $2.2 trillion infrastructure plan.
This new spending will again be financial by USD printing, which will send the USD back lower and stop yields from rising. With yields stable at 1.67% and the US government having just given out $1.9 trillion in reliefs, this additional $2.2 trillion if approved, will not only cause optimism to spike, thereby shoring up risk assets, it will also fuel higher inflation, which will mean higher asset prices.
Employment is recovering, which means people will have more ability to spend. Earnings by companies will then increase due to increase in economic activities and higher spending by consumers. Either way, everything points to higher stock prices, and way higher crypto prices.
The S&P has already broken 4,000 on the back of this positive news and I see the stock markets a lot higher than they are now by September. For cryptocurrencies, the timing cannot be better for a $100,000 BTC and $3,000 ETH by that time.
The rise in traditional markets thanks to this risky appetite is of course pleasing, but it is further highlighted in the growth of cryptocurrencies. Still seen as incredibly risky and volatile, a bigger appetite should help bolster these digital assets in the coming months.
About Kim Chua, PrimeXBT Market Analyst:
Kim Chua is an institutional trading specialist with a track record of success that extends across leading banks including Deutsche Bank, China Merchants Bank, and more. Chua later launched a hedge fund that consistently achieved triple-digit returns for seven years. Chua is also an educator at heart who developed her own proprietary trading curriculum to pass her knowledge down to a new generation of analysts. Kim Chua actively follows both traditional and cryptocurrency markets closely and is eager to find future investment and trading opportunities as the two vastly different asset classes begin to converge.
The post PrimeXBT’s Kim Chua: Risk-on Appetite Is Back After Biden’s New Infrastructure Plan appeared first on Blockonomi.
Automated trading platforms or ‘bots’ have become a popular way to trade cryptos. Instead of having to watch the crypto markets, and look for entry and exit opportunities, crypto trading bots do most of the work. Cryptohopper and 3commas have emerged as two of the most popular trading bots in the marketplace, and they both offer great tools for trading cryptos.
Cryptohopper and 3commas offer many similar tools and both charge a fee to use their services. If you want to see a quick rundown of the similarities and differences between the two platforms, just skip down to the next section.
It is impossible to say which platform is better in an objective sense. Both Cryptohopper and 3commas give users a range of automated tools to choose from, and both will make trading crypto a lot easier.
Have a look at what Cryptohopper and 3commas do, and see if either one would make a good addition to your trading toolkit.
Also take a look at our complete Trading Bots guide where we go into more detail about how these platforms work and provide some more options.
Cryptohopper vs 3Commas
Cryptohopper and 3commas both work from an API key that will allow the platform to make transactions on your behalf at a number of popular crypto exchanges.
Both platforms have a lot in common and will provide the following features:
Cloud-based platform for 24/7 connectivity
Fee-based service
Work with a range of crypto exchanges via an API key
Automated trading options
Long/short trading with limit orders
User-friendly trading interface
Marketplace for Purchasing third-party bots & signals
Cryptohopper: The Rundown
Depending on how you choose to define a trading bot, Cryptohopper may or may not fit that definition. Cryptohopper is a great trading platform that offers advanced trading tools, as well as signaling and backtesting tools that professional traders use regularly.
Read: Our Full Cryptohopper Review
Visit Cryptohopper
Cryptohopper lets its clients use a cloud-based platform that can manage numerous crypto positions on 8 major crypto (officially supported) exchanges. The exchanges that officially support Cryptohopper are:
KuCoin
Binance
Coinbase Pro
Bittrex
Poloniex
Kraken
Huobi
Bitfinex
Cryptohopper supports 75 tokens according to its website, so clients won’t have any trouble finding a token pair to trade.
How Cryptohopper Works
Cryptohopper will allow its clients to use a range of semi-automated trading tools on supported exchanges. Once it is configured by a user, the Cryptohopper bot will trade automatically on exchanges with a client’s account.
The platform also features trading signals that can help you decide if you want to enter or exit a position. In addition to automated trading, Cryptohopper also has social trading functionality that will let traders work together to profit.
Cryptohopper Tools
Cryptohopper will allow you to set up buying and selling parameters on any of the crypto exchanges that support its platform. The triggers that you decide to use can be configured to work in any market conditions, but the platform doesn’t really offer a fully automated trading algo.
Cryptohopper Dashboard
Cryptohopper has the following order types/trading tools:
Trailing Stop Loss – When a position moves in your favor, it can be a good idea to use a stop loss order that adjusts itself to the market, so that some of the gains will be a sure thing. A trailing stop loss does this for you, and Cryptohopper has it as a standard feature on its platform
Searching for Targets – One of the reasons why traders use automated tools is because they simply can’t be at a trading terminal 24/7. Cryptohopper will be at every exchange, all the time, looking to open or close a position when the market moves to a level that you determine. This is extremely handy for traders who aren’t able to make trading a full-time job but have a good idea of the positions they want to take.
Reserved Funds –If you want to make sure there is always something saved-up in your account, Cryptohopper has a reserved funds tool that lets you set aside a given amount of tokens. This may or may not be a useful feature for your individual style of trading, but it is a nice tool to have available.
Scalp Trading – Scalp trading (or ‘scalping’) is a way to make money quickly off of small market movements. Cryptohopper has automated the scalping process, and the platform will scalp on your behalf along parameters you decide.
Positive Pair Trading –The trend is your friend, and Cryptohopper has created a positive pair trading tool to help find the best opportunities for making a winning trade. Cryptohopper’s positive pair tool will look for any tokens pairs that have been performing well over the last 24 hours, and enter those markets.
Triggers – The crypto markets can move quickly, and Cryptohopper’s triggers allow you to get in on the action. You can set up triggers to buy or sell short any of the tokens that Cryptohopper supports, and make a trade when the market moves in the direction you think it will take.
Short Selling – Selling a token short means that you will be able to profit from a fall in its value, and Cryptohopper has created the ability to sell a token short when a trigger point it hit. You can also set up a level where the position would be closed, and your profit locked-in.
Dollar Cost Averaging – When you buy a larger position in smaller increments, the amount that the overall position cost to buy changes. This is called dollar-cost averaging, and Cryptohopper has built a dollar-cost averaging tool into its trading platform. There are many ways to use dollar-cost averaging, and you can learn more about it on Cryptohopper’s website.
Signalers – Cryptohopper allows third-party traders to act is signalers as a part of its social trading network. You are able to see the kind of trading track record that a signaler has, and trade your tokens with them. Of course, past trading success is no guarantee of future returns, but it is a nice option if you want to use the insights of other traders to potentially profit!
Cryptohopper Pricing
Cryptohopper has a three-tiered pricing model that also allows you to demo the lowest tier for a week at no cost.
Cryptohopper Pricing
Pioneer Plan: Free Trial for 7 Days – The Explorer hopper plan is free to use for seven days.
Explorer: Starter package ($19 Per Month) – The starter packagae will cost $19 USD per month. This plan will give you the ability to manage 80 positions chosen from up to 15 tokens, with technical analysis applied every 10 minutes. You will also be able to set-up 2 triggers with this plan.
Adventure: Trader Plus Package ($49 Per Month) –The Adventure Hopper plan is Cryptohopper’s mid-range plan, and it will cost you $49 USD per month. This plan boosts the number of positions to 200 and lets you trade in 50 different tokens. You will also get technical analysis applied every 5 minutes, and be able to use 5 triggers.
Hero: Pro Trader Package ($99 Per Month) – The Hero Hopper plan is the top-of-the-range offering from Cryptohopper. It allows you to manage up to 500 positions selected from 75 tokens. You will be able to use 10 triggers and receive technical analysis every 2 minutes, and it costs 99 USD per month. The Hero Hopper plan also adds altcoin signals to the rest of the features.
If you want to learn more about Cryptohopper, please check out our in-depth review right here.
Is Cryptohopper a Better Platform?
If you are looking for a platform that can manage your crypto trading, Cryptohopper could be a good choice. It does offer a range of automated trading tools, that once configured are more or less automatic. Building your own trading algos might sound difficult, but Cryptohopper’s platform is very intuitive.
One area where Cryptohopper shines is the sheer number of positions it allows its customers to keep open. Even the most basic plan will allow you to trade up to 80 positions, which is a large number for any single trader. The cost to try Cryptohopper on a medium-term basis is also reasonable, and it can be paid for on a month-to-month basis.
Cryptohopper is a very capable automated trading platform, and it is a great fit for anyone who wants to be connected to the crypto markets all the time. Whether or not it is superior to 3commas is a subjective question, and would be answerable only on a case-by-case basis. Let’s look through what 3commas does, and get a feel for what it offers its clients.
Visit Cryptohopper
3Commas: The Rundown
3commas offers its clients a range of automatic trading options. Unlike Cryptohopper, 3commas does have fully automated trading bots that will operate without being configured by the client.
3commas also allows the use of simple trading tools to create custom bots, and also has simple automated trading tools for simpler trading strategies.
Read: Our Full 3Commas Review
Visit 3Commas
3commas will operate with the following crypto exchanges (supported features given according to 3commas website and reproduced verbatim):
As you can see, the functionality of 3commas is highly dependent on what exchanges you feel comfortable using. For a deeper look into what each of these tools allows you to do, keep on reading!
The Tools
3commas has a flexible structure that allows traders to use mostly automatic trading bots, create automated trading sequences, or just use automated buying and selling tools.
This may be one area where 3commas is a better fit for some traders, as it has algos that are basically automatic once some simple parameters are created.
3Commas Dashboard
Smart Trading – The smart trading feature allows you to set up trade parameters that will be automatically executed by 3commas cloud-based platform. These tools are similar to the ones that are offered by Cryptohopper and will allow you to stay on top of the market without being lashed to a trading terminal. Both long and short trading is supported by the platform, as long as it is allowed by the exchange.
Auto Trading Bot – The Auto Trading Bot that 3commas is basically automatic. All you have to do is choose a token pair, and enter some basic trading parameters. Once the bot is active, it will work on your behalf to make profits. You can fine-tune the bot you use by choosing a long, short or composite strategy for the token pairs you want to trade, and the bot will basically do the rest.
Like everything on 3 commas, there are some variables you can tweak, and try to ramp up your gains. The composite bot tool allows you to mix long and short positions over a variety of token pairs, to take advantage of more complex trading strategies.
There is also a list of the top bots from the last 24 hours, in case you want to try and jump on a willing trend. All of these tools create the potential for profit and are almost totally automated. Of course, once you set the bot loose, you will be responsible for any losses, so starting small is probably a good idea.
3commas Pricing
3commas has three plans that offer more to traders as they climb the pricing ladder. Unlike Cryptohopper, 3commas does offer a 3 day free trial if you signup for their pro plan.
3Commas Pricing
The Starter Package – For $22 USD per month, 3commas will give you access to the Smart Trading terminal with no trading limits and include errors and cancelations notifications. Due to the fact that most of the crypto exchanges only support the Smart Trading terminal, this plan would probably be a good place for most traders to start.
The Advanced Package – For $37 USD per month, 3commas gives you everything from the Starter Package and adds access to simple bots, as well as personal signals provided by Trading View.
The Pro Package – The Pro Package from 3commas will set you back $75 USD per month and adds both complex and Bitmex bots to the offering, as well as full portfolio management. There are also deals for customers who sign up for longer periods of time with 3commas.
If you want to read more about 3commas, please check out our in-depth review right here.
Visit 3Commas
Which Automated Trading Platform is Better?
It is fair to say that both Cryptohopper and 3commas are great in their own regard. There are many overlapping features between the two platforms, and if you are looking for simple automated trading tools (not a trading bot), either one should be able to fulfill your needs.
One advantage that Cryptohopper has over 3commas is that the platform can be used without cost for a week, which is great for people who have never used an automated trading platform, and aren’t sure if it will be a good fit. Where 3Commas offers a 3 day free trial if you signup for their top “Pro” plan.
3commas is nice for people that want to have access to a fully-automatic trading platform, which will trade along parameters that are created by the client. Both offer marketplaces where you can purchase pre-built bots or trading signals and both work with a variety of the most popular crypto exchanges.
Cryptohopper’s starter plan is $19 per month and 3Comma’s is $22. But Cryptohopper’s top plan is $99 per month and 3Comma’s is $75 so it might make sense to go with 3Commas if you need more positions and Cryptohopper’s if you are just starting out.
We recommend you at least try out both free trial periods to see which one suits your needs best.
A Word on Safety
One of the biggest concern that surrounds automated trading platforms is how well they keep client funds safe. While both Cryptohopper and 3commas use industry-standard safety protocols, whenever you generate an API key for your account, you are putting funds at risk of theft.
Every trader will have to decide for themselves whether or not the risk of loss via theft is worth using an automated trading platform, which will trade real assets on their behalf. The upside is access to the markets on a nonstop basis, and the risk is that some crafty hackers will figure out a way to take advantage of a platform’s unforeseen security shortfall.
These safety risks aren’t specific to 3commas and Cryptohopper, which have done a good job in designing platforms that have adequate safety precautions.
It may be a good idea to start using automatic-trading with a small amount of tokens, and see how it goes. If you like the platform you choose, and the returns are good, it is always possible to add funds and increase the position sizes.
The post 3Commas vs Cryptohopper: Which is The Best Crypto Trading Bot Platform in 2021? appeared first on Blockonomi.
With mass adoption comes the risk that cryptocurrency may lose one of its core value propositions: decentralization.
This is the year cryptocurrency finally starts to break into the mainstream. From Elon Musk and Tesla investing in and accepting Bitcoin (BTC) to the recent nonfungible token craze, the days of blockchain tech being the domain of cypherpunks and coders are behind us.
Still, the technology has not quite advanced to the stage where the average person will feel comfortable using it. And the longer the usability of cryptocurrency takes to reach the level where it connects with nontechnical users, the higher the risk that centralized companies will take over the task of improving accessibility instead, harming the censorship resistance of this relatively new technology as it finally surges into the mainstream consciousness.
Let’s look at the state of the crypto usability landscape as it stands today.
When Bitcoin chose to reject on-chain scaling via big blocks, it essentially placed all its hopes and dreams of being usable as an everyday currency on second-layer scaling solutions, foremost among them being the Lightning Network. While functional today, the Lightning Network nonetheless introduces a whole new host of complexities, including liquidity balancing, opening and closing channels, routing payment paths, maintaining connectivity at all times in order to receive funds and so on. And perhaps most challenging to new users, moving funds off-chain onto the Lightning Network requires an on-chain transaction (as do various other Lightning Network functions), triggering those awful, long confirmation times and high transaction fees. All in all, this is a frustrating experience even for a savvy cryptocurrency user and an absolute non-starter for complete newbies.
Thankfully, tireless developers have deployed a new generation of Lightning Network wallets that significantly improve the user experience to a level where a nontechnical user may be comfortable using them. The second-generation Lightning Network wallets, such as Phoenix, achieve this by outsourcing some of the functionality of a regular Lightning Network node — including opening channels, managing liquidity, automatic backups and more — to the wallet provider.
Essentially, they resemble custodial wallets in almost every way except that they’re noncustodial. That is, the user maintains control over their own funds and the service provider can’t run off with (or deny access to) their money. Basically, two main objectives were prioritized: ease of use and user control over funds, and any and all necessary trade-offs were made in order to achieve this. And the results are pretty good: If you use a second-generation Lightning Network wallet, you can send and receive pretty easily without being exposed to the complicated inner workings of the network, and you still keep full control over your money at all times. You just have to trust the Lightning Service Provider, or LSP, for a lot more than if you were just using Bitcoin on-chain.
The challenge comes in the precedent and direction this sets for the ecosystem. This approach makes an increasing number of users reliant on a shrinking number of large LSPs to move their Bitcoin around with ease, resembling the legacy financial system where transaction processing coalesces around a small number of major payments companies.
Sure, many users would still be able to control their own funds and become protected from inflation and currency manipulation, but save for a hardy few technophiles running their own nodes, most people will be relying on centralized entities in order to transact.
Even “fast” competitors don’t seem like it from the user’s perspective
To be fair, not every cryptocurrency suffers from the complications of a congested main chain and a still-nascent second-layer solution. Plenty of chains, most notably the major Bitcoin forks and projects like Litecoin (LTC), have low on-chain fees and regular confirmation times. However, even this experience is insufficient for an end-user.
No matter what Bitcoin Cash (BCH) fans say, transactions are not, in fact, instant, and paying through many popular payment processors or depositing to exchanges will still necessitate waiting for several confirmations, which can take many from minutes to, sometimes, hours. The average user won’t understand why they have to wait, or why the waiting time is variable, or that the service should have been able to trust zero-confirmation transactions but chose not to. They will only understand that they had to wait, and will be frustrated as a result.
Of course, some coins, such as those based on proof-of-stake, can be considered secure after a single conformation, significantly cutting down on waiting times. Depending on the chain, this may or may not be sufficient to ensure a seamless user experience. Dash (DASH) transactions become permanent after a single confirmation (roughly 2.5 minutes) and can be considered highly secure in under two seconds, creating an experience rivaling or surpassing that of proof-of-stake coins despite being a proof-of-work network.
However, not all exchanges and services fully understand the underlying technology, and so this experience can be hit-or-miss. Still, other networks, like Nano (NANO), reach transaction finality in a matter of seconds. However, this may come with significant network reliability trade-offs. No one cares that they can get a payment instantly finalized if the entire network can become unreliable for days, even weeks, due to spam attacks.
Usernames are centralized, rudimentary, a mess or on a testnet
Even once the problem of fast, reliable transactions is solved, there still remains a major key to usability necessary for mass adoption: usernames. While QR code scanning can be simple enough, for web, remote and other situations, copying and pasting long cryptographic hashes is a non-starter. We need a simple, social way for people to pay, leveraging human-readable usernames and contact lists.
There are quite a few systems out today that accomplish this to a certain degree. However, most have significant trade-offs in either usability or trust, or both. Solutions like Ethereum Name Service simply resolve to a static address, which still often reveals said long, ugly address in the user interface, and creates some troubling privacy issues by exposing your entire transaction history to anyone who can simply paste your address into a block explorer. The Foundation for Interwallet Operability is similar, except with even more complexity due to wallet-specific domains and implementations.
Related: Crypto transactions must be easier. That’s it. That’s the headline
Another solution is provided by HandCash, a popular wallet for Bitcoin SV (BSV), which does not resolve to a static address and supports contact lists. The problem is that the solution is centralized: Users must rely on the company and its infrastructure entirely. A similar setup across the BSV ecosystem, Paymail, lets users easily resolve to a new address every time without relying on a single centralized system. However, just like with email, Paymail relies on whichever server hosts your domain, with the only option for censorship-resistance being hosting your own server. Also, there is no universal contact list system. Both of these more user-friendly solutions underscore the unfortunate direction toward centralization, as easy-to-use solutions are hard to make decentralized.
Once again, DASH is focused on providing the most elegant solution to the usability problem — building a decentralized application layer that, among other things, offers both usernames and contact lists on the protocol level in an intuitive, user-friendly, completely decentralized form. However, this years-in-the-making solution is still on testnet, and it remains to be seen if a wide public release will happen in time to impact the trend of mass adoption toward centralized services.
The danger that end-users will simply trust bank-like companies
Of course, the real risk isn’t that cryptocurrency ease-of-use solutions will struggle or fail to take hold. The greater risk is that fully custodial solutions will simply win out, returning us to the same old financial system we sought to escape from, only (allegedly) backed by crypto.
We’re already seeing examples of this, from incentivized blogging platform Publish0x encouraging withdrawals directly to centralized exchanges in order to avoid high Ethereum fees to United States fast food giant Chipotle giving away Bitcoin exclusively to exchange accounts. Then there are the forays into crypto that payment giants like PayPal and Visa have made. If we’re not careful, in the future we could be spending our cryptocurrency through the exact same companies and services we used for our fiat currency, still at the mercy of the same players we sought freedom from in the first place.
We’re at a crossroads: Create ease of use in a decentralized way or let mainstream adoption power the death of decentralization. The challenge is formidable, but the stakes are too high to simply concede. Is cryptocurrency up to the task?
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
Joël Valenzuela is a veteran independent journalist and podcaster, living unbanked off of cryptocurrency since 2016. He previously worked for the Dash decentralized autonomous organization and now primarily writes and podcasts for the Digital Cash Network on the LBRY decentralized content platform.
As Ripple fends off SEC lawyers, XRP enjoys an explosive weekend pump
Amid a weekend pump carrying multiple cryptocurrencies higher, Ripple’s XRP looks to be leading the way with a push as high as 30% on the daily — carried on the back of a string of legal victories and rumors of relisting at some exchanges.
Where Bitcoin and Ethereum are up merely 2.7% and 3.4% respectively on the day, XRP climbed to $1.36 before retreating to $1.32, where it sits at the time of publication. The digital currency is now up 111% on a 7 day basis, and a staggering 544% on the year. The recent push has also buoyed XRP back into the top 10 cryptocurrencies by marketcap, behind only BTC, ETH, and BNB at #4.
🙂 pic.twitter.com/qYIf6RPOoY
— sats (@satsdart) April 10, 2021
The rally flies in the face of a lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which charges that XRP’s $1.3 billion ICO was an “unregistered securities offering.” The news led multiple exchanges to delist the currency, and XRP lost its place as the 3rd largest currency by marketcap, at time looking as if it would even fall out of the top ten.
The bad news for XRP didn’t stop with the SEC, either. In March Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced that the company would be “winding down” its relationship with Moneygram — a once highly-touted partnership that investors often pointed to as proof of the digital currency being on a path towards becoming “the standard” for payments and settlement.
Despite the deluge of negative headlines, it appears all buyers needed was a small ray of hope to jump back in — and they’ve gotten exactly that. Ripple lawyers have notched two victories in their legal battle against the SEC, including winning access to internal SEC discussion history regarding cryptocurrencies, and a court denied the SEC the ability to disclose the financial records of two Ripple execs, including Garlinghouse.
Ripple executives themselves seem heartened by the news, with CTO David Schwartz saying the US isn’t “prepared” to regulate cryptocurrencies (a possible dig at the ongoing legal proceedings).
All in all, it’s just another week for one of the most controversial cryptocurrencies in the space.
According to professional trader Scott Melker, Ethereum’s “tremendous upside potential” could overshadow Bitcoin this year.
Ethereum is likely to outperform Bitcoin, at least in the short term, said veteran trader Scott Melker in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph.
Alt szn is upon us
Melker sees this period of Bitcoin’s price consolidation as particularly bullish for the second largest cryptocurrency, that recently reached new all time highs. Melker sees Ether’s outstanding performance as the main catalyst of the recent altcoin market bull run.
He also revealed he has been largely switching his dollar-cost averaging strategy from Bitcoin to Ether in the last few months, in order to take advantage of Ethereum’s “tremendous upside potential”.
“It’s like investing in the Internet in the early 1990s to me.”, Melker said.
According to Melker, Etherum could reach the $10K price target within the end of 2021.
“ I don’t see why that’s crazy. It’s basically just under a five X from here. […] Bitcoin did almost three times that last year.”
To find out about Melker’s outlook on Ether, XRP and other large-cap altcoins, watch the full interview on our YouTube channel and don’t forget to subscribe!
Coming every Saturday, Hodlers Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more a week on Cointelegraph in one link.
Top Stories This Week
Bitcoin suddenly hits $60,000 as a new resistance battle liquidates $850 million
A bout of long-overdue volatility has hit the crypto markets, propelling Bitcoin to highs of $61,276.67 on Saturday.
A sudden push allowed BTC/USD to exit the $50,000 price range in the early hours of the morning. This move had been weeks in the making, with the digital asset repeatedly trying (and failing) to break $60,000 for most of March.
Analyst Lex Moskovski said Bitcoin is now grinding up to a new all-time high, writing: Being a bear is expensive.
But its unclear how much staying power this rally has, and as weve seen over recent months, erratic market movements over weekends dont always endure.
The favorable market conditions led to new all-time highs for Ether and Binance Coin on Saturday and another altcoin has also been making a comeback, too.
XRP surpasses $1 for the first time since 2018: Whats behind the new rally?
XRP has had a remarkable week, and over the past seven days, its almost doubled in price. On Tuesday, the altcoin smashed through the $1 zone for the first time since March 2018, with its price going from strength to strength in the days that followed.
It is currently trading above the next resistance level at about $1.20, prompting some to set their sights on a macro sell-wall of $2 that dates all the way back to December 2017.
XRP has now regained the coveted position of the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. The uptick in trading volume may have been linked to Ripple unveiling a new acquisition designed to enhance its cross-border payment capabilities.
There was also some upbeat legal news for Ripple this week. Ripple Labs has been granted access to the SECs documents expressing the agencys interpretations or views on the subject of crypto assets.
Counsel representing Ripples CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, believes it may be game over for the SECs suit should they find any evidence that the regulator has deemed XRP akin to Bitcoin or Ether.
Speaking to Cointelegraph, Ripple Labs chief technology officer David Schwartz urged U.S. regulators to look at the rest of the world, warning America risks falling behind when it comes to crypto and blockchain regulation.
Coinbases first-quarter revenue hits record $1.8 billion ahead of its Nasdaq listing
Its been a week of upbeat statistics for the crypto sector. We saw the total market cap hit $2 trillion, meaning that the industry is now worth as much as Apple. There was a big milestone as 100 cryptocurrencies all secured their own $1-billion market cap for the first time. It was also revealed that the crypto industry got more funding in Q1 than all of last year.
Next week is also shaping to be a significant one as Coinbase gears up to make its stock market debut. And ahead of Wednesdays direct listing, we got an insight into the companys finances revealing that revenues hit $1.8 billion from January to March.
The exchanges numbers seem very healthy, indeed, undoubtedly because of the bull run that emerged during the first quarter. Net income has been estimated at between $730 million and $800 million for the period with monthly active users now exceeding 6 million.
But not everyone is cracking open the champagne. Some analysts have warned that Coinbases $100-billion valuation is far too high.
David Trainer, CEO of the investment research firm New Constructs, wrote in a note to clients: Its hard to make a straight-faced argument that the firm can justify the lofty expectations baked into its valuation given increasing competition in a mature cryptocurrency trading market and the lack of sustainability in its current market share and margins.
Paris Hilton drops surprisingly well-informed article about NFTs
Paris Hilton has written an impassioned article about NFTs, declaring that she sees them as the future of the creator economy.
The entrepreneur and former reality star appears to be aiming to position herself as an authority on the NFT space, at least for a mainstream audience, as she readies to release a new drop soon.
Celebrating their role when it comes to digital art and fashion not to mention bringing the world of trading cards into the 21st century she wrote:
Some of these applications might even change the way we live. What if we could use NFTs as collateral for physical items? Or as a way to trade for them?
Hilton sold her first NFT in August 2020 before the mania arrived in 2021 an NFT depicting a painting of her cat, which sold for $17,000. She donated all the proceeds to charity.
Couple gets married on Ethereum blockchain for $587 in transaction fees
Coinbase employees Rebecca Rose and Peter Kacherginsky have gotten married using the Ethereum blockchain adding a whole new meaning to the vows for richer or poorer.
In addition to a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony, Kacherginsky wrote an Ethereum smart contract named Tabaat that issued tokenized NFTs, the rings.
The ceremony itself consisted of two transactions: the transfer of the NFT rings from the contract to Rose and Kacherginsky. In total, the ceremony took four minutes to be validated by the Ethereum network and incurred $50 in miner fees.
By contrast, the average physical wedding in the United States costs roughly $25,000.
The NFTs depict an animation of two circles merging to become one and were illustrated by artist Carl Johan Hasselrot.
Rose wrote on Twitter: The blockchain, unlike physical objects, is forever. It is unstoppable, impossible to censor, and does not require anyones permission. Just as love should be. What could possibly be more romantic than that?
Announcement of the week
Markets Pro delivers up to 1,497% ROI as quant-style crypto analysis arrives for every investor
Its now been a month since Cointelegraph Markets Pro launched bringing professional crypto market intelligence to every investor.
New figures this week showed that 41 of the 42 trading strategies tested by Markets Pro are currently beating Bitcoins investment returns, and 36 of them are winning against an evenly weighted basket of the top 100 altcoins.
Two key features are offered to subscribers. The first is the VORTECS Score, which is derived from an algorithm that examines multiple different variables (including sentiment, tweet volume, price volatility and trading volume) and compares those with historically similar marketscapes.
And the second is NewsQuakes: alerts on events that have historically had a significant impact on an assets price over the following 24 hours.
Cointelegraph Markets Pro is available exclusively to subscribers on a monthly basis at $99 per month, or annually with two free months included.
Winners and Losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin is at $60,531.89, Ether at $2,165.46 and XRP at $1.31. The total market cap is at $2,054,795,567,223.
Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Bitcoin Gold, KuCoin Token and XRP. The top three altcoin losers of the week are Klaytn, Holo and Dent.
For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraphs market analysis.
Most Memorable Quotations
Fascinating to see that since inception ETH has outperformed BTC by 250%. It only fell below its initial price in BTC for the first 5 months of its existence in 2015.
Raoul Pal, Real Vision co-founder
The pandemic, quite frankly, was a catalyst for institutional adoption, and specifically Bitcoin and the narrative, or use-case, around digital gold.
Tom Jessop, Fidelity
Industries from across the global economy are beginning to decarbonize their operations. We can do the same in crypto. We have the opportunity to decarbonize the industry.
Crypto Climate Accord
What we need is for the United States to be the leader here. We need to embrace this, so we need to make sure that we use this technology to continue to be a leader on the global stage.
Anthony Pompliano, Morgan Creek Digital co-founder
Even though Im a pro-crypto, pro-Bitcoin maximalist person, I do wonder whether if at this point, Bitcoin should also be thought of in part as a Chinese financial weapon against the U.S.
Peter Thiel, PayPal co-founder
Im not using crypto to buy fiat; Im not using crypto to buy houses. I just want to keep crypto. And I dont plan to convert my crypto into cash in the future.
Changpeng Zhao, Binance CEO
Not for nothing, $XRP technically has taken all necessary strides to be bullish. After the exchange delistings and write-off by most of CT, this essentially left the market short from both a positional and sidelined standpoint. This can move much higher.
Cantering Clark, crypto derivatives trader
If you look at gold as a $10 trillion market cap, Bitcoin is about 10% of that, and if we believe Bitcoin is a 100 times better version than that, then its fairly safe to say that theres a stark chance that Bitcoin captures a lot of gold and market share, and more.
Yassine Elmandjra, Ark Invest analyst
Prediction of the Week
Ark Invest and JPMorgan expect Bitcoin to hit $130,000$470,000
JPMorgan Chase expects Bitcoin to reach $130,000, while Ark Invest anticipates the market valuation of BTC to surpass that of gold.
The optimistic macro prediction from both funds revolves around the scarcity of Bitcoin, which has buoyed its popularity as a safe-haven asset.
Bloomberg Intelligence also has high hopes when it comes to the second quarter of 2021. This week, it predicted that the second quarter was more likely to deliver a further surge to $80,000 than a capitulatory move to $40,000.
FUD of the Week
Bitcoin to zero? Not while this Redditor has $187,000 to spend
There have long been doomsday predictions that well see Bitcoin prices plummet to zero, but one person has vowed that this wont happen, not on their watch.
Reddit user u/Substantial-Ad-5012 wrote: Bitcoin will never go to zero in my lifetime. Because I am willing and able to buy all the Bitcoin ever mined at one cent each.
In the unlikely event that Bitcoin does in fact drop to $0.01, it would cost a mere $187,000 to pick up every coin in circulation not accounting for the fact that up to 20% of all Bitcoin are inaccessible.
Theyre not alone. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao told his followers last March that they shouldnt be worried about BTC hitting zero. So long as I have a penny left, it wont happen, he wrote.
Paxful denies reports of customer data leak
An anonymous online source was recently spotted trying to sell private customer and employee data allegedly obtained from crypto exchange Paxful.
However, a spokesperson from the company has told Cointelegraph that no customer data has been jeopardized.
Explaining that Paxful hasnt fallen victim to a data breach, the spokesperson added: The employee data that the person claims to have was obtained illegally from a third party supplier that Paxful previously used; Paxful terminated its contract with this supplier in September 2020.
The person attempting to sell the information claimed to have phone numbers, names and addresses, as well as other private information belonging to users and the dump purportedly boasted more than 4.8 million entries.
Ledger faces class action from phishing scam victims
Ledger and Shopify have been hit by a class-action lawsuit over a major data breach that saw the personal data of 270,000 hard wallet customers stolen between April and June 2020.
Phishing scam victims John Chu and Edward Baton filed the lawsuit in California against the crypto wallet provider and its e-commerce partner Shopify on Tuesday.
The plaintiffs alleged that the firms negligently allowed, recklessly ignored, and then intentionally sought to cover up the data breach.
The data was stolen when rogue employees of Shopify accessed the companys e-commerce and marketing database for Ledger, with the hackers then selling the data on the dark web.
Had Ledger acted responsibly during this period, much of that loss could have been avoided, they claim.
Chu lost $267,000 worth of Bitcoin and Ether, and Baton lost $75,000 worth of Stellar in phishing scams that impersonated correspondence from the firms.
Best Cointelegraph Features
DeFis critical missing piece: Credit scores
Traditional finance is built not on collateral but on reputation, and DeFi will grow by following suit, Rafael Cosman argues.
You dont own me: XRP price surge defies SECs clampdown on crypto
Since the start of April, the surge in price of XRP has been backed by high tweet volumes, which approached relative highs.
Crypto at risk after Facebook leak: Heres how hackers can exploit data
Attacks on digital asset exchanges and trading platforms have decreased drastically in recent years, but data leaks still leave users vulnerable.
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