The Securities and Exchange Commission has come to a settlement agreement with blockchain company Block.one over the yearlong token sale for EOS. It was the largest token sale of the year raising over $4 billion so naturally attracted the attention of regulators.
Block.One Settled $24 Million
The SEC charged the blockchain firm for conducting an unregistered initial coin offering of digital tokens between June 26, 2017, and June 1, 2018. Block.one neither confirmed nor denied the allegations but has agreed to pay a one-time fine of $24 million.
The official statement found that the company used funds for general expenses, software development and promotion of the platform. It stated that the firm did not register the ICO as a securities offering pursuant to the relevant federal laws, nor did it qualify for or seek an exemption from the registration requirements.
Co-director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, Stephanie Avakian, stated;
“A number of US investors participated in Block.one’s ICO. Companies that offer or sell securities to US investors must comply with the securities laws, irrespective of the industry they operate in or the labels they place on the investment products they offer.”
The company posted a response stating that the ERC-20 tokens sold are no longer traded or in circulation. The platform migrated off the Ethereum blockchain last year and on to its own EOSIO main net.
The firm added that the SEC granted an important waiver so that it will not be subject to ongoing restrictions that would usually apply with settlements of this type. It added that this shows that the regulator has been satisfied by Block.one’s ongoing compliance.
The statement added;
“We are excited to resolve these discussions with the SEC and are committed to ongoing collaboration with regulators and policy makers as the world continues to develop more clarity around compliance frameworks for digital assets.”
The settlement news is fundamentally bullish for the platform and EOS prices are up today. The token is one of the top performers at the time of writing with a 10% pump on the day from $2.75 to $3.10.
Daily volume surged from around $1 billion to $2 billion as EOS, which recently hard forked, hits a weekly high. The token has followed altcoin movements and has had a pretty dismal year with a pump to $8.4 followed by a dump to $2.75.
Today’s news is good for Block.one and EOS as the company can now move forward and focus on the technology.
Will EOS price return to its 2019 high? Add your thoughts below.
Images via Bitcoinist Image Library, Twitter: @block_one_
The total crypto market cap is holding the key $200.0B support area, with corrective signs.
Bitcoin price is currently correcting higher and it recently broke the $8,400 resistance.
Litecoin (LTC...
The total crypto market cap is holding the key $200.0B support area, with corrective signs.
Bitcoin price is currently correcting higher and it recently broke the $8,400 resistance.
Litecoin (LTC) price is up more than 6% and it broke the $55.00 resistance area.
Bitcoin cash price gained nearly 7% and it managed to break the $230 resistance.
EOS price surged more than 10% and it climbed above the $2.850 and $3.000 resistances
Stellar (XLM) price is back above the $0.0600 level and it is currently showing positive signs.
The crypto market cap and bitcoin are currently correcting higher. Ethereum (ETH), LTC, ripple, bitcoin cash, EOS, TRX, and stellar are recovering nicely.
Bitcoin Cash Price Analysis
After consolidating above the $210 level, BCH price started a decent upside correction against the US Dollar. The BCH/USD pair broke the $225 and $230 resistance levels. The price is now up more than 6% and it is currently trading near the $233 level.
If there is an upside break above $235, the price could continue to rise towards the $250 resistance. On the downside, the previous support near the $220 level might provide support.
Litecoin (LTC), EOS and Stellar (XLM) Price Analysis
Litecoin price found support above the $50.00 level and it recently climbed above the $55.00 resistance area. LTC price is now trading above $57.00 and it may soon test the $60.00 resistance area in the coming sessions. On the downside, the $55.00 level may now act as a support.
EOS price performed really well and it broke the $2.850 and $3.000 resistance levels. The price is up more than 10% and it is trading near the $3.050 level. If there are more upsides, the price could test the $3.200 resistance level in the coming sessions.
Stellar price started a decent upside correction after it broke the $0.0585 resistance level. XLM price even broke the $0.0600 resistance and it is currently testing the $0.0620 resistance level. If there are more upsides, the price might test the $0.0650 resistance area.
Looking at the total cryptocurrency market cap 4-hours chart, the $200.0B support area is acting as a strong barrier for sellers. The market cap is currently correcting higher and it recently broke the $210.0B and $215.0B resistance levels. Moreover, there was a break above a connecting bearish trend line with resistance near $212.0B level. It seems like there could be more upsides towards the $220.0B and $225.0B resistances in the coming sessions. Therefore, there are chances of more upsides in bitcoin, Ethereum, EOS, litecoin, ripple, XLM, BCH, ADA, BNB, TRX, ICX, and other altcoins. Only a close below the $200.0B level might negate the current bullish move.
Ripple price climbed higher recently above the $0.2450 and $0.2500 resistances against the US dollar.
The price is currently trading near the $0.2620 resistance area and is consolidating gains.
T...
Ripple price climbed higher recently above the $0.2450 and $0.2500 resistances against the US dollar.
The price is currently trading near the $0.2620 resistance area and is consolidating gains.
There was a break above a major bearish trend line with resistance near $0.2415 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair (data source from Kraken).
The price might correct a few points, but it is likely to test the main $0.2650 resistance in the near term.
Ripple price is showing signs of a decent upside correction against the US Dollar and bitcoin. XRP price could continue higher, but the $0.2650 resistance holds the key.
Ripple Price Analysis
After a strong decline, ripple price started consolidating above the $0.2320 level against the US Dollar. The XRP/USD pair traded in a range and recently started a decent upward move above the $0.2400 resistance area. Moreover, the price broke the key $0.2420 resistance area and the 100 hourly simple moving average to start the recent upside correction.
During the rise, there was a break above a major bearish trend line with resistance near $0.2415 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair. As a result, the pair surged above the $0.2500 and $0.2550 resistance levels. Ripple is up around 10% in the past three sessions and it even tested the $0.2620 resistance area. A high was formed near $0.2618 and the price is currently showing a lot of positive signs.
It dipped a few points below the $0.2600 level and the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the recent wave from the $0.2352 low to $0.2618 high. However, the decline was limited and contained by the $0.2480 support area. Moreover, the 50% Fib retracement level of the recent wave from the $0.2352 low to $0.2618 high acted as a strong support.
The price is now trading with a positive bias above the $0.2500 level. If there is an upside break above the $0.2620 resistance area, the price could test the main $0.2650 resistance. A clear break above the $0.2650 resistance area might set the pace for a larger upward move in the coming sessions. On the downside, the key supports are near the $0.2480 and $0.2450 levels.
Looking at the chart, ripple price is trading nicely above $0.2500. However, the bulls need to gain strength above the $0.2620 and $0.2650 resistance levels to push the price further higher in the near term.
Technical Indicators
Hourly MACD – The MACD for XRP/USD is about to move back into the bullish zone.
Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for XRP/USD is currently well above the 50 level.
Major Support Levels – $0.2520, $0.2480 and $0.2450.
Major Resistance Levels – $0.2620, $0.2650 and $0.2720.
Around $10.6m in Ether has disappeared from the smart contract of alleged Chinese ponzi scheme FairWin. Was it stolen, hacked – or just withdrawn by desperate users?
Throughout September the crypto media was full of reports of the <...
Around $10.6m in Ether has disappeared from the smart contract of alleged Chinese ponzi scheme FairWin. Was it stolen, hacked – or just withdrawn by desperate users?
Many blamed Tether, but the largest gas user on most days – accounting for up to 60% of all gas usage – was a gambling dApp called FairWin, which many suspect is a Chinese Ponzi scheme.
May not be a Ponzi*, could be a Pyramid* scheme (*allegedly)
FairWin is essentially a high yeild investment scheme masquerading as a gambling dApp.
You earn a “dividend” by ‘investing’ in the scheme or by referring other people to the project.
The high 0.5% to 1% return on investment after just 5 days screams ‘scam’ to most observers, with the returns for older deposits believed to be drawn from new deposits.
On September 21, the contract had 49,000 Ether locked, worth $10.6 million.
Was it stolen by the owners, hacked by an attacker, or simply withdrawn by users in a mad dash for the exit after they’d read reports alleging Fair Win is a decentralised pyramid scheme?
A totally genuine shot of the FairWin devs from the FairWin website.
Targeted at new Chinese users
Although allegations that FairWin was not entirely above board, have been floating around for weeks in English language media, the dApp targeted users on Chinese social media and blogs – where the news only seems to have just hit.
Earlier this week, developers found critical vulnerabilities in the gambling game.
Horizon Games researcher Philippe Castonguay – who also believes Fair is a Ponzi – said the smart contract “contains critical vulnerabilities that put all funds at risk”.
The vulnerabilities enabled the contract owner to “totally drain” it of Ether or prevent users from withdrawing their Ether. The bugs could also allow hackers to “steal new deposits”.
After news broke the contract was empty Castonguay told The Block, “it looks like people raced to withdraw their funds” but added that it is “hard to tell at this point.”
Reddit takes FairWin down
The day before the amount of Eth locked on the platform peaked on September 21, Redditor chutiyabehenchod alleged that 70% of new deposits were being used to pay the dividends on older deposits, while the owners took 30% for themselves.
He said FairWin could ““be one of the biggest scams ever seen in Ethereum.”
However Fair Win has denied allegations it is a Ponzi scheme, labeling such claims on its website as “misleading”.
FairWin also responded to a more detailed Reddit takedown yesterday by Clément Lesaege, CTO of Kleros, saying they’d “already found the vulnerability, but we don’t think it is a vulnerability”.
Cock up rather than conspiracy
While Lesaege thinks FairWin is a ponzi scheme he doesn’t believe the contract was deliberately written to enable the owners to steal all the Ether, mainly because he didn’t think they weren’t smart enough to do so.
“This contract is the contract with the lowest code quality I’ve ever seen,” he said.
Get ready for fireworks as crypto skeptic Nouriel ‘Dr Doom’ Roubini goes head to head with Bitcoin bull Roger Ver at London’s CC Forum.
The co-founder of CC Forum Max Studennikov has unveiled one of the biggest blockchai...
Get ready for fireworks as crypto skeptic Nouriel ‘Dr Doom’ Roubini goes head to head with Bitcoin bull Roger Ver at London’s CC Forum.
The co-founder of CC Forum Max Studennikov has unveiled one of the biggest blockchain and cryptocurrency lineups ever seen in London – with Dr Doom and Roger Ver set to take part in a ‘heated debate’.
“We have the biggest names in the industry,” Studennikov told Trader Cobb in a podcast interview released today.
“And we also have people who are just marginally connected to the blockchain industry – or probably even sometimes anti (cryptocurrency), like Nouriel Roubini.
“He’s coming over to take part in the heated debates with the crypto people, who’re heavyweights.
“On one panel you will see Nouriel Roubini debating with Roger Ver (Bitcoin.com), Brock Pierce (Bitcoin Foundation), Bobby Lee (BTCC) and Tone Vays (podcaster, analyst), all in one place.
“So that’s gonna be really, really exciting.”
Micky will be ringside, alongside Trader Cobb
Micky and Trader Cobb are both heading over to the forum – and Micky will livestream the event if circumstances permit.
London’s CC Forum is fast becoming one of the blockchain world’s must attend conferences.
Following the inaugural event for 700 people last year, CC Forum expanded to Malta and returns to the UK greatly expanded on October 14-16.
More than 2500 guests, 100 speakers and 70 exhibitors are expected – including royalty and members of the House of Lords and the European Parliament.
To put those numbers in perspective, that’s more than attended Consensus in New York in May – and they didn’t even get a lesser known Viscount along
Movers and shakers
Studennikov told Cobb he first dreamed up the event over a beer with Vitalik Buterin’s former landlord Vinay Gupta (listen to the podcast for the full story about that).
They’d agreed the event needed to focus on attracting “the movers and shakers” – those determined to transform the world via technology.
“It’s not meant for entertaining the crowd, it’s not meant for anything superficial,” he said.
Alongside the headline debate panel, other speakers include Tim Draper, Prince Michael of Liechtenstein, European MP, David Sigel, Monty Mumford and many more.
$50 billion or 50,000 pounds investment
Max Studennikov
An ‘investors hub’ at the event allows startups to grab five minutes each to pitch to 25 family offices and investment funds, representing around $50 billion under management.
There’s also a pitching contest with a 50,000 pound prize.
Held at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, it’s literally 100 metres from Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.
“I keep saying to people, if they want to see history in its making that’s the right place at the right time to come,” he said.
Conference fit for a Lord
The event has attracted a surprising number of esteemed guests including four members of the House of Lords, two members of the European Parliament, and one member of the Royal Family of Liechtenstein.
A special blockchain reception for selected members of the CC Forum will be held at the House of Lords, hosted by Lord Waverley.
“That shows the extent to how important it is for the UK to retain this unique role of being the financial capital of the world and being at the spearhead of emerging technologies,” he said.
For more information on CC Forum visit cc-forum.com.
Trader Cobb’s masterclasses will be held in London on October 12, Malta November 9 and Singapore November 16.
Micky readers can save 25% on Businesses Passes and VIP Passes by using the code TRADERCOBB25.
Today has been a generally good day for most of the altcoins with decent gains all round following a week from hell. One of the top performers at the moment is EOS which has surged almost 15 percent on the news that Blo...
Today has been a generally good day for most of the altcoins with decent gains all round following a week from hell. One of the top performers at the moment is EOS which has surged almost 15 percent on the news that Block.one has settled with the SEC.
Big Pump For EOS
Most of 2019 has been pretty miserable for altcoins, EOS included. A mid-year spurt had the crypto community chattering about altseason but all gains have been unceremoniously dumped over the past three months.
EOS topped out at around $8.70 during this peak but has since fallen back 70 percent to a low of $2.60 last week. It is not far off the 2018 bottom at the moment and in need of some positive developments. A few hours ago things started to move for EOS as it lifted off an intraday low of $2.70 to top out just over $3.11 according to Tradingview.com.
EOS price 1 hour chart – Tradingview.com
The move takes the token back to a weekly high but there is a long way to go in the bigger picture. The daily chart still exhibits a strong down trend for this and all of the other altcoins. It was enough to enable EOS to flip BNB for seventh spot in terms of market cap which is currently $2.8 billion.
Block.one Fined 0.6% of ICO Funds
The news that Block.one has settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission over an unregulated token sale charge has provided the momentum today. The blockchain firm was charged for conducting an unregistered initial coin offering of crypto tokens between June 26, 2017 and June 1, 2018 according to the official announcement.
According to co-director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, Steven Peikin;
“Block.one did not provide ICO investors the information they were entitled to as participants in a securities offering,”
The fine, however, is a paltry $24 million which is just 0.6% of the $4 billion the firm raised during the year-long ICO. Naturally Block.one is happy with the outcome though it neither confirmed nor denied the allegations. The company responded stating;
“We are excited to resolve these discussions with the SEC and are committed to ongoing collaboration with regulators and policy makers as the world continues to develop more clarity around compliance frameworks for digital assets.”
As some kind of justification it added that the ERC-20 tokens sold during the ICO are no longer traded or in circulation since the platform was migrated from Ethereum to EOSIO shortly after the sale concluded.
Today has been a good day for Block.one and EOS but future price direction will depend largely on the general state of the altcoin market since none of them have managed to decouple from Bitcoin and make independent progress yet.
ETH price started an upside correction above the $172 and $175 resistances against the US Dollar.
The price even broke the $180 level and it is currently testing the key $185 resistance area.
The...
ETH price started an upside correction above the $172 and $175 resistances against the US Dollar.
The price even broke the $180 level and it is currently testing the key $185 resistance area.
There was a break above a declining channel with resistance near $171 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD (data feed via Kraken).
The price could struggle to clear the $185 resistance area in the near term.
Ethereum price is currently rebounding versus the US Dollar, similar to bitcoin. However, ETH price must break the $185 resistance to continue higher in the coming sessions.
Ethereum Price Analysis
Yesterday, we saw a corrective increase in Ethereum above the $170 level against the US Dollar. ETH price faced a strong resistance near the $172 and $175 level. As a result, there was a minor dip before the bulls were able to push the price above the $175 resistance area. Moreover, there was a proper close above the $175 resistance and the 100 hourly simple moving average.
During the rise, there was a break above a declining channel with resistance near $171 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD. The pair even surpassed the $180 level. However, it is now trading near a crucial resistance at $185. The stated $185 level was a major support earlier and it might now prevent further upsides. If there is a clear break above the $185 resistance, Ethereum could continue to rise towards the $200 level.
On the downside, an immediate support is near the $180 level. It represents the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the recent leg from the $165 low to $185 high. However, the main support is now near the $175 level (the recent resistance area). It also coincides with the 50% Fib retracement level of the recent leg from the $165 low to $185 high.
If there are any further losses, the price might find support near the $175 level and the 100 hourly SMA. A successful close below $175 is likely to decrease the chances of more upsides above the $185 resistance area in the near term. The next major support is near the $165 level.
Looking at the chart, Ethereum price is clearly trading near a major resistance area at $185. Therefore, there could be a minor bearish reaction from $185. However, as long as the price is trading above the $175 level and the 100 hourly SMA, there are possibilities of a push towards the $200 level.
ETH Technical Indicators
Hourly MACD – The MACD for ETH/USD is slowly losing momentum in the bullish zone.
Hourly RSI – The RSI for ETH/USD is currently well above the 50 level.
Analysis shows that XRP has much higher wealth concentration than both Bitcoin and Ethereum...
Analysis shows that XRP has much higher wealth concentration than both Bitcoin and Ethereum. Nevertheless, such concentration poses risks for all three coins. Here’s why.
Wealth concentration by the numbers
In August, blockchain analytics firm Coin Metrics released data around different coins and their wealth concentrations. Here are snippets for the top three coins by market capitalization:
The numbers show that Bitcoin, as the largest network, has the largest total number of addresses with meaningful balances—indicating a leading distribution of funds and greater usage when compared to other coins.
Meanwhile, Ethereum addresses tend to have the smallest balances of the top three, indicating relatively strong wealth dispersion. Finally, tokens on XRP appear highly concentrated, potentially posing greater price risk for holders.
These figures are even more striking when normalized by market capitalization.
Table by Coin Metrics
Once adjusted, Ethereum is by far in the lead in terms of meaningful accounts and wealth dispersion. Moreover, it closes the gap between XRP and Bitcoin in terms of meaningful accounts as well.
The most alarming aspect though is the difference between median address balances. Adjusted median balances for XRP is 5-times that of Bitcoin and 32-times that of Ethereum. This may indicate that relatively few people are using XRP to meaningfully transact, despite much lower fees than Bitcoin and Ethereum. It is also suggestive of higher overall levels of centralization.
Critics may argue that the average is skewed because Ripple and its insiders hold over 50 percent of the token supply (worth approximately $13 billion at current prices). However, given that these reserves are only held in a handful of addresses the median shouldn’t be materially impacted.
Complicating factors
It’s important to keep in mind that these figures aren’t directly comparable and should only be used to approximate wealth concentration. A single user can easily own multiple addresses while multiple users can also control a single address (through multi-signature accounts).
Fundamentally, these protocols also have characteristics that may skew the above metrics. Ethereum is an account-based protocol, which means users often re-use addresses, meaning the number accounts could be under-counted.
Bitcoin uses a UTXO-based protocol, which tends to result in many throwaway addresses which could inflate its numbers. But, Ethereum’s gas fee mechanic tends to leave behind small balances in accounts, dragging the average down. Appropriately adjusting for all of these factors is a difficult task.
Why this is important
Wealth distribution is important for the health of a public blockchain for several reasons, primarily in relation to decentralization—a key value proposition of the technology. As said by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in a 2017 essay:
“Many have said that decentralization is the most important property of systems like Bitcoin and Ethereum.”
Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, has been emphatic that XRP Ledger is decentralized. In October of 2018 at the Ripple-sponsored “Swell” conference in San Francisco, he called the ledger “very clearly decentralized,” arguing that “anybody can participate in the XRP ecosystem.” This narrative has been echoed by CTO David Schwartz and disseminated through the company’s official channels.
Thought leaders in the industry care about decentralization. Experts in the field have argued that decentralization imbues well-designed blockchain systems with several useful properties. Blockchains are less likely to fail than traditional systems, more expensive to attack and destroy, and more resistant to collusion from participants, argued Buterin.
In contrast, high levels of wealth concentration are correlated to high-levels of decision-making centralization. It also puts purchasers at a disadvantage because it only takes a single entity to harm the price. In all, wealth concentration poses additional risk for investors.
One well-discussed example is the price action around XRP. Much of the value of the coin is derived from the success and actions of Ripple, a single corporation. If Ripple wanted to extract value from investors it could sell its holdings on the open market while reallocating those resources to services that have no relation to XRP. Worse yet, If Ripple decided to extricate itself from XRP it would result in catastrophic losses for investors.
Wealth concentration problems are exacerbated on proof-of-work systems, like what is planned for ETH 2.0 and what is already implemented on EOS. Systems which use tokens to determine the outcome of elections and make decisions give tokens direct power of the system.
Consequently, for proof-of-stake systems it’s essential tokens are distributed widely and equitably, otherwise the system is at risk of unwanted collusion and rent-seeking. Over the long-run, these systems are in jeopardy of increasing amounts of decision-making centralization as large token-holders implement rules which benefit themselves at the expense of users on the platform.
Counter arguments
Though, there are also sound counter arguments to the theory that public blockchains require fair levels of wealth distribution. In a July 2017 essay, the former CTO of CoinbaseBalaji Srinivasan argued:
“In practice it appears that a very high level of wealth centralization is still compatible with the operation of a decentralized protocol.”
At the time, Srinivasan discussed a framework for measuring decentralization to assess the resilience of a blockchain. He theorized that blockchains are bottle-necked by their most centralized point of failure. In other words, a blockchain is only as decentralized as its most centralized part.
If this is the case, then high levels of wealth concentration may not matter if there is an even more egregious point of centralization for BTC, ETH, and XRP.
Risks for the three coins
When applied to cryptos these theories could help investors make better decisions about each of the platforms.
For Bitcoin, large amounts of wealth concentration allow whales to manipulate the markets. By conducting strategic trades with large amounts of BTC it’s possible to take advantage of retail investors for profit.
Though, other less liquid coins such as ETH and XRP are at an even greater risk of market manipulation. However, small volume also means the potential profit from such behavior is constrained.
Under Balaji Srinivasan’s framework wealth concentration may not be Bitcoin’s main risk. Something like mining concentration in China could act as an even greater point of failure for the network.
For Ethereum, as the protocol moves to proof-of-stake in ETH 2.0, then token holdings will translate directly into political control over the system’s governance. These systems run the risk of turning into plutocracies, where rich token holders enact policies to enrich themselves at the expense of average users, making a blockchain less competitive over time. This phenomenon tends to be exacerbated by low voter participation on public blockchains, as demonstrated by EOS and TRON.
Finally, for those investing in XRP there are other concerns. Many enthusiasts think Ripple is a good steward of their reserves. Because they locked the majority of their coins in escrow and pegged the sales to market trading volume, token holders can supposedly have more confidence they won’t get diluted.
But, many of these large token holders aren’t Ripple and would not have the same self-imposed restrictions. In addition to Ripple regularly selling large chunks of XRP these large token holders could also be holding down the price of the coin.
Understanding wealth concentration for each cryptocurrency is an important factor to consider. Incorporating the metric into the assessment for each protocol helps people make better decisions about long-term growth potential and fundamental risk.
Block.one may have raised something in the order of $4 billion in its ICO, allegedly falling afoul of SEC regulations on the sale of an unregistered security: but who cares?
EOS fans will be delighted to know that the dApp platform’s ...
Block.one may have raised something in the order of $4 billion in its ICO, allegedly falling afoul of SEC regulations on the sale of an unregistered security: but who cares?
EOS fans will be delighted to know that the dApp platform’s chief architects agreed to a settlement with the SEC today that sees them pay a civil penalty of just $24M.
According to a press release from the SEC, “Block.one did not provide ICO investors the information they were entitled to as participants in a securities offering,” said Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “The SEC remains committed to bringing enforcement cases when investors are deprived of material information they need to make informed investment decisions.”
Block.one neither admitted nor denied the findings.
Over the past year, Block.one has spent a lot of the investor funds it raised during its year-long ICO, including $30M on a domain name.
Block.One had attempted to shield itself from American regulators, by making it a condition of their offering that U.S. investors could not participate. In addition, the terms of the sale were also worded in such a way as to avoid promising an increase in value. Neither measure was sufficient to protect the company from U.S. regulators, who are now pursuing the largest ICO yet.
“A number of US investors participated in Block.one’s ICO,” said Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, in a statement from the regulator. “Companies that offer or sell securities to US investors must comply with the securities laws, irrespective of the industry they operate in or the labels they place on the investment products they offer.”
While $24M may seem a lot, it represents just 0.06% of the total raised during the ICO. If this serves as a template for other settlements, cryptocurrency projects may finally have something to smile about during a weak altcoin market.
At the time of writing, EOS tokens were trading 5% higher than they were 24 hours ago, according to CoinMarketCap. Their all-time high was at $22.89, but today the token is worth $2.94.
We’ve refreshed our quarterly analysis of the CFTC COT report, which entails CFTC regulated bitcoin futures data (currently only CME Group has enough reportable traders hitting the report on a weekly basis).
While 3Q saw ...
We’ve refreshed our quarterly analysis of the CFTC COT report, which entails CFTC regulated bitcoin futures data (currently only CME Group has enough reportable traders hitting the report on a weekly basis).
While 3Q saw a peak in total volumes and notional value of open interest on bitcoin futures outstanding in July (when bitcoin spiked to over $13,800 intra-day), notional values have come back down to where the quarter started (~$212 million). On average, however, the quarter saw ~$272 million worth of estimated outstanding notional value, up 65% since 2Q averages, and +150% on the year.
The SEC has at last called on Block.one, makers of EOS, to face the music—to the tune of less than 1 percent of what it raised in its unregistered ICO.
A new bill from Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Energy has the power to cripple cryptocurrency mining in the country if a proper investigation is not carried out befo...
A new bill from Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Energy has the power to cripple cryptocurrency mining in the country if a proper investigation is not carried out before it becomes law.
The draft bill, which was made public on Friday, states that Bitcoin and altcoin miners in the region would be required to pay 300% more in electricity tariffs, a price hike that miners never saw coming.
The Uzbekistan nation is basing this new bill solely on the argument that the powerful computers used by miners to secure and record transactions in blockchains consume massive amounts of electricity – an argument that has been refuted many times, to no avail.
Uzbekistan’s cryptocurrency support a ruse?
In September 2018, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the President of Uzbekistan, signed a decree that allowed cryptocurrency exchanges in the country to go about their businesses undisturbed.
The Central Asian country, via this decree, opened its doors to the cryptocurrency industry, causing an influx of crypto-focused startups.
In the same vein, the decree also made room for crypto mining, promising plots of land for its operation and the cooperation of the state-owned energy companies, Uzbekgidroenergo and Uzbekenergo.
The sudden hostile attitude of the government towards the crypto mining industry makes one wonder if the Uzbekistan authorities had planned this all along – open its doors to cryptocurrency to milk crypto market participants dry through excessive tariffs and fees.
The Bill in question
The latest bill proposes that power saving should be encouraged in the country in both the commercial and non-commercial sectors.
It also made a special reference to cryptocurrency businesses, miners included, in which they will now be charged electricity tariffs that are three times more than the current rate.
“Consumers, regardless of the connected capacity, carrying out activities on crypto assets, including mining (activities to maintain and create new blocks with the ability to receive remuneration in the form of new units and commission fees in various cryptocurrencies), pay for electricity using an increase factor in 3.0 times the established tariff of the corresponding tariff group.”
The draft bill, which is available on the Uzbekistan government website, is open for public comment up until Oct 12, 2019.
One opponent of the bill, Otabek Buzurukhuzhayev, wrote:
“In the end, you just do it so that mining will not be profitable for mining in Uzbekistan. As a result, everyone will either look for workarounds (to steal, split limits, and move equipment to neighboring countries).
“Mining is the influx of currency to Uzbekistan. Although you certainly can’t see this directly, because you do not conduct any surveys and statistics among miners. Nevertheless, a huge amount of currency comes through this chain through this activity.
“Gather all the miners and make a conference, you are not competent in these matters. Listen to the opinion of professionals and then make any corrections to the law.”
Responding to numerous comments opposing the bill, supporter Srapionov Vladimir Ashotovich wrote:
“Miners do not create anything, they sell nothing to anyone (except for their mythical crypto assets), and they only spend a huge amount of scarce electricity on heating the atmosphere in the hope of earning personal income for nothing.
“You just need to clarify that this is an illegal inflow of currency. And why should the State agency ‘convene a conference,’ listen to the opinions of participants in illegal currency circulation and help them somehow?”
Uzbekistan – friend or foe of cryptocurrency?
For a country as energy self-sufficient as Uzbekistan, the energy consumption required for crypto mining shouldn’t be a problem.
The nation is blessed with natural gas, significant oil reserves, and lots of industrial power stations left over from the Soviet era.
Therefore, whether Uzbekistan is a friend or enemy of the crypto revolution will be known in due time, beginning with its next action towards the proposed bill.
Will it come to its senses and continue its liberal stance on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology or will it undo all of the progress it has made and go the way of countries like China, India, Kyrgyzstan, and others that have tightened the noose on crypto operations within their borders?
Despite Patrick Byrne stepping down from his helm at Overstock over a month ago, the drama surrounding the name continues to play out like a soap opera. Following Patrick’s $90 million sell-off of company stock, the company has releas...
Despite Patrick Byrne stepping down from his helm at Overstock over a month ago, the drama surrounding the name continues to play out like a soap opera. Following Patrick’s $90 million sell-off of company stock, the company has released several disappointing press releases, leading many speculators to cry of foul play.
Sequence of events:
September 16-18 Byrne sells his remaining Overstock shares over the three day period for total proceeds of $90 million
September 17 – Greg Iverson, Overstock CFO, resigns without a separation agreement
September 23 – Company announces Iverson’s resignation and lowers guidance for 3Q19
September 24 – Company files an S-3 automatic shelf registration, a similar play as last year before they sold 5.8 million shares in an ATM public offering
Between September 16 and September 18, Byrne sold his 4.7 million shares at an average price of $19.15 for total proceeds of $90 million.
Band Protocol, a blockchain startup backed by venture capital firm Sequoia India, has released its mainnet as well as its first decentralized application (dApp) called “BitSwing,” which allows users to trade bitcoin (BTC) binary options, a type of...
Band Protocol, a blockchain startup backed by venture capital firm Sequoia India, has released its mainnet as well as its first decentralized application (dApp) called “BitSwing,” which allows users to trade bitcoin (BTC) binary options, a type of derivative product.
Revealing the news exclusively to The Block on Monday, Band Protocol said BitSwing users will be able to take a long or short position in the BTC/USD market by predicting whether BTC’s price one minute later, will be higher or lower than the spot price.
“Binary option is one of the simplest financial derivatives that most people can understand,” Soravis Srinawakoon, co-founder and CEO of Band Protocol, told The Block, adding that when BitSwing was launched in testnet for one week, it saw over 40,000 transactions - “a significant adoption rate for dApps.”
To participate in the binary options trading, users will have to install Metamask or any similar Web3 wallet that operates on the ethereum-based Kovan testnet, Band Protocol said. Users will then be able to take a long or short position via ether (ETH), betting if BTC will go up or down from that initial position, determined by Band’s decentralized data oracle. “If you are correct, you double the amount of ETH you put in otherwise you lose your stake,” Srinawakoon told The Block.
Indeed, that’s how binary options work - more like a prediction, which can either be right or wrong, but nowhere in between.
Admitting that the one-minute window is “too short,” Srinawakoon said that the window will be expanded as well as more cryptocurrencies will be added to show the potential of decentralized finance or DeFi.
Revenues?
Band Protocol said the testnet launch of BitSwing helped it earn $12,000 worth of testnet ETH in data query fees in its first two weeks. "If the trend continues, Band Protocol is expected to generate over $300,000 in value per annum for its ecosystem via BitSwing alone."
Srinawakoon told The Block that query fees are paid to data providers as an incentive to provide “accurate” data and are paid by dApps who query the data. He added that it is similar to how centralized applications pay for API (application programming interface) access to retrieve data from other websites. Band Protocol gets its price data from sources including CoinGecko, Binance and Upbit and others.
The launch of mainnet and BitSwing follows Band Protocol’s initial exchange offering (IEO) on Binance Launchpad earlier this month via its native token BAND. The firm raised $5.85 million through the IEO, bringing its total funding to date to $10.85 million.
When asked why Band Protocol needs its own token, Srinawakoon told The Block that “similar to how BTC is needed to incentivize miners to act honestly, BAND tokens are used to incentivize data providers to provide accurate data and for token holders to vote for the most trusted data provider to ensure data integrity.”
He added that the firm will continue to work with Binance and other cryptocurrency exchanges to ensure “maximum liquidity for our tokens to the widest audience globally," concluding:
“We are fully decentralized so our revenue will come from our staked tokens. We will use most of our tokens to stake for data providers and earn part of query fees. This ensures our long term sustainability as we do not depend solely on the token’s volatile price.”
Despite Patrick Byrne stepping down from his helm at Overstock over a month ago, the drama surrounding the name continues to play out like a soap opera. Following Patrick’s $90 million sell-off of company stock, the company has releas...
Despite Patrick Byrne stepping down from his helm at Overstock over a month ago, the drama surrounding the name continues to play out like a soap opera. Following Patrick’s $90 million sell-off of company stock, the company has released several disappointing press releases, leading many speculators to cry of foul play.
Sequence of events:
September 16-18 Byrne sells his remaining Overstock shares over the three day period for total proceeds of $90 million
September 17 – Greg Iverson, Overstock CFO, resigns without a separation agreement
September 23 – Company announces Iverson’s resignation and lowers guidance for 3Q19
September 24 – Company files an S-3 automatic shelf registration
Between September 16 and September 18, Byrne sold his 4.7 million shares at an average price of $19.15 for total proceeds of $90 million.
Bitcoin bears have continued to flex their muscles into Monday morning. After closing the week at a massive loss, with BTC posting...
Bitcoin bears have continued to flex their muscles into Monday morning. After closing the week at a massive loss, with BTC posting its worst performance since November 2018’s capitulation event, bulls failed to make their presence known.
As of the time of writing this, the Bitcoin price has started to collapse yet again, falling as low as $7,700 after trending above $8,000 for days on end. This latest collapse, analysts say, are putting the cryptocurrency market in a precarious position — a position that perhaps may precede yet another precipitous plunge.
Ouch. Over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin has shed 4%, with bears taking control once again.
According to analyst Data Dater, this recent downturn has seen Bitcoin’s latest descending triangle chart formation break down on the one-hour chart. The measured move of this triangle is -10%, meaning that Bitcoin could sink as low as $7,000 before establishing yet another range.
Prominent analyst Cantering Clark has echoed this short-term cynicism, calling for a move to the “lows of May-June”, which are in the low-$7,000s. While he did admit that BitMEX position funding marginally favors bulls, Bitcoin is looking poised to see a further price collapse due to a number of factors.
This, he claimed, includes a lack of extreme negative funding, “increasingly negative delta at range support”, a perceived exhaustion in buying support, and large volume imbalances all implying that Bitcoin has a bearish skew heading into coming daily trading sessions.
BTC
-Funding negative but not extreme yet
-Increasingly negative delta at range support.
-Buyers already look exhausted.
-10x+ volume imbalances between bids hit versus offers lifted while progressing lower.
And, as Don Alt has noted, with Bitcoin’s recent loss of $9,300, the nearest support level on the downside is currently sitting in the low-$7,000s, a few percentage points lower than the current price of $7,800.
While the charts sure seem harrowing at the moment, showing that Bitcoin has further to fall, the cryptocurrency market is seemingly preparing for an eventual bounce.
Crypto Hamster recently laid out a number of reasonings why this may be. These include the fact that the Daily Fisher Transform, which indicates when the price of an asset has moved to an extreme, has hit its lowest value since 2018’s capitulation event; BitMEX funding is heading deeper negative, meaning that a bounce should arrive eventually; and a number of technical oscillators are as oversold as they were during late-2018.
Per an analysis by Josh Rager, the lowest such a bounce may take place is $6,300, recently arguing in a chart that there exists a confluence of buying interest and historical importance.
Since yesterday, the top five cryptocurrencies — Litecoin, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Ripple — have gone down -2.25% in aggregate. Leading the way was XRP, whose price is now around $0.238772 USD, which yielded holders a return of -0.65% from the day prior. As for the worst-performing crypto out of the Big Five, yesterday that was Bitcoin Cash; it came in at down 3.94%, which drove its price to around $218.28 USD. In total, none coins were up from the day prior, which indicates a wave of bearishness befell the sector as a whole.
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None of the coins had moves that could be regarded as unusually large; all the moves were within the volatility ranges we’ve come to expect for each currency. Traders may also wish to bear in mind the following events going on regarding current price patterns:
The crypto market as a whole seems to be in bear mode; the five majors have been heading down over the past 14 days.
Insights from the Blockchains
Ripple had more transactions recorded on its chain yesterday than any other coin; to be precise, it had about 41% more transactions recorded than Ethereum, which was the runner up for the day in terms of transactions recorded. Ripple has a transaction fee less than the transaction fee of Ethereum, which may indicate that transaction fees might be a key reason why users are preferring Ripple. Over the past 24 hours, the largest transaction across all blockchains occurred on Bitcoin, coming in at a value of $25,615,198 US dollars. Bitcoin continues to dominate the crypto market, with the total circulating value of its currency equal to approximately $139.46 billion US dollars. That’s about 67.37% of the value of all circulating cryptocurrencies. Its dominance has been in an unclear trend over the past two weeks, ranging between 67.23% to 69.14%.
Coinbase is proud to join leading crypto businesses in announcing the creation of theCrypto Rating Council, a member-operated organization formed to assist market participan...
Coinbase is proud to join leading crypto businesses in announcing the creation of theCrypto Rating Council, a member-operated organization formed to assist market participants that trade or support crypto assets to comply with U.S. federal securities laws. Founding members of the Council are Anchorage, Bittrex, Circle, Coinbase, DRW Cumberland, Genesis, Grayscale Investments and Kraken.
The proper legal characterization of a crypto token — as a currency, a commodity, a security, or something else — can have a meaningful impact on how crypto businesses operate. Whether a token is a security under U.S. federal securities laws, in particular, will significantly impact registration, licensing, and operating obligations for financial services firms that offer crypto services like exchange, investment management, or trading.
Although the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has issued helpful guidance, whether any given crypto asset is a security ultimately requires a fact-intensive analysis by knowledgeable technical and securities law experts. This analysis is difficult and expensive to operationalize consistently, may involve judgment calls, and can lead to disagreement among legal experts (and even government officials).
This challenge prompted Coinbase to bring together several industry leaders and securities law experts to create a scalable, points-based rating system centered around a set of several dozen, yes / no factual questions. These questions are derived directly from SEC guidance and case law and are designed to address important characteristics that inform whether an asset is or is not a security. We also worked hard to focus our framework on objective, repeatable, fact-driven questions that can be answered consistently by technical experts across different assets and over time. The result of the analysis is a score which makes it easy for members to synthesize the analysis across many tokens and make their own, independent business decisions about whether or how to support an asset.
The Council Members The following companies, spanning digital asset trading platforms, digital custodians, trading firms and more, are founding members of the Crypto Rating Council:
Any asset rating published by the Council is the result of a factual analysis performed by outside legal experts in conjunction with technical experts at member firms. These legal experts then use the Council’s framework to establish a rating for each asset under review. Member firms, typically acting through in-house lawyers, then deliberate and vote whether to adopt the rating. All scores published by the Council are the result of this analytical and deliberative process. We expect and look forward to welcoming more organizations to the Council over time.
About Asset Ratings The Council’s analytical framework results in a score between 1 and 5. A score of 1 means the Council’s independent analysis suggests the asset has few or no characteristics consistent with a traditional regulated security. A score of 5 means the Council’s analysis suggests that an asset has many characteristics strongly consistent with treatment as a security. The Council will publish its score for most assets that members support or use in the ordinary course of their respective businesses. We expect that some ratings will change over time and we will accept and consider feedback from asset issuers when they want to share additional information or clarifications that may impact an asset’s rating.
The Council’s ratings are performed independently. They are not endorsed by the SEC, CFTC, or any government agency, developer team, or other third party, and they are not legal advice. Although we may seek input from development teams, developers have no influence over the performance of the analysis and most of the Council’s ratings have been established without direct developer input. More details about the scores and methodology can be found here.
In the coming months, we expect to add more members, review more assets, and publish more and revised asset scores. As we continue to grow, we may develop similar tools for non-U.S. jurisdictions.
Blockchain payments firm Ripple has acqui-hired Iceland-based cryptocurrency trading firm Algrim to expand operations in Europe.
Announcing the news on Monday, Ripple said Algrim will play an “integral” role in the ongoing development of its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) product which utilizes XRP cryptocurrency for cross-border payments. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“The decision to join the Ripple team was a natural fit — both companies share a vision to enable widespread adoption of digital assets and blockchain technology, which aligns directly with what we’ve been working towards for the past several years,” said Algrim CEO Dadi Armannsson.
Ripple said that Iceland will now serve as one of its engineering hubs, with plans to hire more people from a technical background in the region with a new office.
Just last week, Ripple also acquired payments solution startup Logos and added 8 engineers to the Xpring team who will explore developing a decentralized finance (DeFi) system built on XRP.
South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb’s sale of a controlling stake for ~ 400 billion won (~$333 million) is said to be at risk of falling apart.
reported the news on Monday, citing “industry sources.” Last October, Bithumb’s parent company BTC Korea Holdings had agreed to sell a 50% stake in the exchange to BK Global Consortium, a blockchain investment firm founded by BK Global, a plastic surgery medical group in Singapore.
The deal was expected to close in February of this year, but BK Global has reportedly only paid a down payment of $100 million to BTC Korea Holdings. “The down payment might become a subject of a legal battle,” per the report.
In July, Dual Industrial, a Korea-listed company, announced a plan to buy a 57% of BK Group for 235.7 billion won (~$196.8 million) -- a move that was seen as an effort by the group to finance the Bithumb acquisition. However, Dual withdrew the plan later that month, per the report.
Earlier this month, BK Group reportedly found another investor Cho Yoon-hyeong, who is behind Korea-listed firm Cornerstone Networks. “The deal is proceeding smoothly, and we’re working on details with BTC Holdings,” Cho was quoted as saying in the report, adding that he expects to complete the acquisition soon.
A Bithumb official said in the report: "Bithumb has stable management, so there won’t be any impact should the deal collapse."
