This spring the crypto community will head online to participate in the first ever BlockDown remote crypto conference, and hear from visionary blockchain entrepreneurs and business leaders, including Akon global music artist, Co Founder & chairman of Akoin, Roger Ver, Executive Chairman of Bitcoin.com, and Bitcoin Educator Jimmy Song. With multiple crypto conferences globally postponed or delayed because of concerns around the spread of the coronavirus , BlockDown is a chance for the crypto community to network, engage and learn, without leaving their desks. The event, which has a limited ..read more

A no-deal Brexit could see the price of Bitcoin surge past $20,000 and achieve a record high, as the vulnerability of fiat currencies is amplified through such a symbolic political event, according to the blockchain specialist, CommerceBlock. In December 2017, Bitcoin hit its all-time high of $19,783 but the threat that a no-deal Brexit poses to the stability of both sterling and the Euro, coupled with its broader symbolism of the growth of populism and decline of political union and globalisation, are all likely to favour the cryptocurrency. In 2019 to date, Bitcoin has been boosted and vali ..read more

Like Brexit, Bitcoin has polarised opinions across the globe. What started as the mainstay of crypto enthusiasts has now caught on with big boy financial players who are shuffling in to get a piece of the pie. But opportunities to invest in Bitcoin with traditional investment firms remain distinctly limited for retail investors. Smaller investors mostly remain in the niche crypto community, holding out with a cult-like belief in the mainstream spread of Bitcoin, while hailing doom and gloom for traditional financial institutions. So as a retail investor, is it worth pumping your hard earned c ..read more

On Yavin, blockchain data strategist, CEO and founder of Cointelligence, says that Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra is not a real cryptocurrency, and yet, it could have a positive impact on the crypto market. However, the arrival of Facebook Coin hasn’t had as much of an effect on the market as Mr Trump’s trade policy according to Luno.   “The new Facebook coin is a fake cryptocurrency. They are calling it cryptocurrency because it is a buzzword. It may be a digital currency, but it is not a cryptocurrency. It is a crap coin,” says On Yavin.    On believes that Libra is not a real cryptocurrenc ..read more

By Steven Marshall, Head of Compliance at Torca The general perception of the cryptoasset space to date has been one of high risk and high reward. The rise and rise and then sharp fall in cryptocurrency prices last year combined with the furore surrounding Initial Coin Offerings saw a rush of early adopters into this application of  blockchain technology, but investor losses were incredible and cases of fraud and near-fraud were abundant. Steven Marshall, Head of Compliance at TorcaEnsuring that cryptoassets are uniformly defined and that those representing or equivalent to financial instrumen ..read more

Hackers stole 7,000 bitcoin worth $41 million (£31 million) from the global cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Binance chief executive Changpeng Zhao said “The hackers used a variety of techniques, including phishing, viruses and other attacks.” Bitcoin’s price dropped by as much as 4.2 percent in early Asian trading following the news, however some of the losses were recovered. In a Binance security breach update, the company stated: “It was unfortunate that we were not able to block this withdrawal before it was executed. Once executed, the withdrawal triggered various alarms in our system. W ..read more

Posturing on both sides of the US/China trade dispute has unsettled the entire world economy so it’s little surprise that ripples are being felt in financial and crypto markets as well. Michael Gapen, Barclays US Chief Economist, told Yahoo Finance on Tuesday that America is exposed to greater risk should hostilities persist; “The U.S. is still basically a closed economy. Exports are only about 15% of GDP and we import more from them than they do from us, so relatively speaking, they have more to lose in this game.” Ahead of Chinese Vice Premier Liu’s visit to the States later this week, Gapen ..read more

Comment by Andriy Velykyy (business development director of Paytomat.com) The original idea of Initial Exchange Offerings (IEO) is great – emerging companies that operate in crypto landscape obtained access to a new form of crowdfunding for their projects on a depressed market. However… Andriy Velykyy, Paytomat.comThe investors on the other hand receive a promise of tokens being listed, and it is important to remember that a lot of ICO tokens have never been listed, thus their investors were never unable to retrieve their funds. Furthermore, being listed on a big exchange gives startups addit ..read more

Comment by Pavel Kravchenko, co-founder at Distributed Lab After examining the emerging global trend for initial exchange offerings (IEO), you realise that these new tokens are designed similarly to Forex. Some people think that this makes for a sound new business model but there’s more to the picture than meets the eye… Pavel Kravchenko, Distributed LabsLet’s consider a real example. Imagine that somebody has built a supermarket and then offered different shops to open department sales outlet on the condition: they have to accept only the currency invented by the supermarket’s owner. This cur ..read more

A study into consumer confidence in cryptocurrencies has been revealed that two-thirds of Europeans have faith the digital assets will still exist in 10 years’ time, however the majority are still uncertain to how they will be used. The research, commissioned by bitFlyer, the world’s largest bitcoin exchange by trading volumes, polled 10,000 respondents across 10 countries in Europe.   The research reveals Norway to be leading the most optimistic countries confident in the future of cryptocurrency, with almost three-quarters (73%) believing they will still exist in some form. France, on the o ..read more