BTC responds to Trump tweets? / Iran creates crypto aid blockchain / 2019 crypto scams

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Presented by Subscribe | View in browser Market Watch: Volatility still rules in the crypto markets. Bitcoin dipped below $10,000 over the weekend but has since recovered and is back over its support again. The altcoins continue to follow. Bitcoin: $10,364 (⬆️ 1.60%) // $185.5 billion market cap. Ethereum: $190 (⬇️ 0.22%) // $20.4 billion market cap. XRP: $0.270 (⬇️ 1.15%) // $11.6 billion market cap. Bitcoin Cash: $311 (⬆️ 0.89%) // $5.6 billion market cap. Top 100 Winner: Wanchain: $0.50 (⬆️ 31.47%) // $53.8 million market cap. Top 100 Loser: ABBC Coin: $0.09 (⬇️ 17.76%) // $54 million market cap. Prices are as of 8:38 a.m. EDT.       1. On Friday, Bitcoin made history when its price seemingly bounced in response to President Trump's tweets on the U.S.-China trade war. The president criticized China for imposing tariffs on U.S. goods then declared that he will raise tariffs on Chinese goods from 25 percent to 30 percent. Economist and global financial market analyst Alex Krüger said it's the first time Bitcoin has reacted in real time to events outside of the world of cryptocurrency. He went on to say that the event could have been a "false positive" and that it doesn't signify a relationship between Trump's tweets and the price of Bitcoin. Crypto firm Santiment replied that it has confirmed a correlation between the BTC/USD price pairing and searches for #China or #trade_war. Others are calling it a coincidence. Read the full conversation on Twitter. -- CCN Do you think there is a correlation between the U.S.-China trade war and the price of Bitcoin? Hit reply and let Inside Bitcoin Editor Rebecca Campbell Know.       2. Iran is seeking to get around U.S. sanctions through the creation of a blockchain platform called IranRescueBit. The platform was created in response to U.S. sanctions on Iran for the purpose of facilitating cryptocurrency donations meant to help flood victims. The Golestan floods in March 2019 rained down devastation on 10 Iranian cities, displacing 60,000 people and causing emergency shelter situations for 10,000. President Trump declared the largest single-day sanctions against Iran to date in November 2008 in order to pressure the state to cease development of certain arms, including nuclear weapons. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called the sanctions "economic war" and vowed not to be undone by them. IranRescueBit is a non-governmental development and facilitates donations in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. -- AXIOS       A MESSAGE FROM AIRBNB Earn money by sharing your space. Millions of travelers stayed in an Airbnb last year. Turn your extra space into extra money. Learn More 3. The biggest cryptocurrency scam in 2019 so far was a three-year phishing scam that resulted in the theft of $100 million in cryptocurencies. The heist was allegedly performed by Israeli brothers Eli and Assaft Gigi. While the two have been apprehended, authorities are still searching for the stolen crypto. Other crypto scams this year include a hack on Japanese crypto exchange BITPoint that resulted in the theft of $28 million in financial assets including Bitcoin, XRP, Ether, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash; a Binance hack resulting in $40 million in Bitcoin losses; a six-person typosquatting scam that led to $27 million in Bitcoin losses; and a "flash crash" at Kraken that resulted in a Bitcoin price plunge from $8,400 to $75. -- BUSINESS INSIDER       4. Austrian economist Saifedean Ammous convinced audience members in attendance at a Soho Forum debate in New York that Bitcoin will not replace the central banking system. Ammous beat Cato Institute's George Selgin in an Oxford-style debate to address the question "Can Bitcoin Replace Central Banking?" Selgin is the director of the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute. Ammous wrote the book The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking and is an associate professor of economics at Lebanese American University. Ammous was able to convince 23 percent of the audience to change their minds during the debate. -- REASON       A MESSAGE FROM AUDIBLE Start listening with a 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook plus two Audible Originals are free. Explore all the ways listening on Audible can help improve mind, body, and soul with entertainment, information, and inspiration. Sign up at audible.com/insidenews for your 30-day Audible free trial.   5. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney wants to kill the U.S. dollar with digital currency. He addressed the Federal Reserve at its annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming saying the dollar is "too dominant" and should be replaced by a digital alternative backed by a group of nations. He compared the hypothetical event with the end of the British Sterling's end of dominance in international money markets during the World War I era. He went so far as to say that the dollar was so dominant of international markets that it is a barrier to sustainable recovery. Dollar hoarding by governments around the world, he said, has led to ultra-low interest rates and low inflation. -- CCN       6. A Los Angeles operator of an unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange called LocalBitcoin has pleaded guilty and could face a life sentence. Specific charges against Kunal Kalra include distribution of methamphetamine, money laundering, failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Authorities seized 54.3 Bitcoin, various other cryptocurrencies, $889,000 in cash from bank accounts, and a vehicle. Kalra was arrested and charged with the crimes after he sold two pounds of meth and exchanged $50,000 in Bitcoin for cash with an undercover agent. In another incident, he exchanged $400,000 in cash for Bitcoin with an agent who claimed the money was obtained through drug trafficking. Kalra's online pseudonyms were "coinman" and "shecklemayne." -- SILICON ANGLE       7. The world of Bitcoin, and the broader world of cryptocurrency in general, has been infiltrated by the mainstream financial system and could become a tool for financial corruption. This commentator starts with the premise that the legacy financial system is corrupt and morally bankrupt. If it becomes the dominant force in cryptocurrency, then it will devastate crypto leaving in its wake nothing but more financial ruin, and the economies that will be hit worse are poor countries. -- STEEMIT       8. Eight years ago Erik Finman, 12 years old at the time, turned $1,000 in Bitcoin into millions, and now he is betting it all on Metal, a crypto app similar to Venmo. Finman made a deal with his parents that if he could turn a $1,000 gift from his grandmother into $1 million, then he wouldn't have to attend university. One month later, he purchased Bitcoin at the trading value of $10. When the bull run hit in 2017, he cashed in on the deal with his parents. Metal Pay launched its ICO in 2017 and allows users to send USD to each other in a Venmo-like app setting and pays users in its native token MTL for doing so. Finman calls the app an "all-in-one application for cryptocurrencies." Metal Pay exited beta on August 19. On the same day, Finman agreed to convert his crypto portfolio, worth $4.5 million now, into MTL incrementally. He doesn't want to do it all at once because he doesn't want to disrupt grassroots support of the platform by creating an artificial price surge. -- VENTUREBEAT       9. Venezuelan retailer Traki created a department in 2017 specifically for facilitating transactions with cryptocurrency and it's processed 1,000 transactions so far. The retailer has partnered with cryptocurrency payment processor Cryptobuyer and Indonesian blockchain platform Pundi X. The official launch of the physical environment was in March allowing the store to process Bitcoin, Dash, and Litecoin payments. While payments are made in crypto, Traki receives bolivars for its merchandise. Venezuela's offficial currency, the bolivar, has been in trouble for several years. The country's president, Nicolas Maduro, created an oil-backed cryptocurency called Petro last year that has been controversial. While Traki accepts Petro as currency, the company doesn't do anything with it, according to project manager Alejandro Fernández. -- OUR BITCOIN NEWS       10. Video: How Roger Ver and Mark Edge first heard about Bitcoin. Longtime Bitcoin fans know Roger Ver as an early Bitcoin investor who has become one of BTC's most vocal proponents. Mark Edge is a founder and host of Free Talk Live, a libertarian-themed radio talk show syndicated on over 200 radio stations in the U.S. Ver describes how he first heard about Bitcoin through Edge's radio show. Edge talks about how he met Gavin Andresen, whom Satoshi Nakamoto gave the Bitcoin project to before disappearing from public life early in BTC history. Ver and Edge also discuss the future of Bitcoin and some history of economics -- BITCOIN.COM / YOUTUBE       Today's Inside Bitcoin is written and curated by award-winning journalist and former newspaper editor Allen Taylor. Recognized by the Dallas Bar Association three times for excellence in legal reporting, Allen has since gone on to author, edit, or ghostwrite several white papers, books and e-books, and over 10,000 blog posts for clients ranging from small business owners to global management companies and corporate executives. Learn more about him on LinkedIn. Editor: David Stegon (senior editor at Inside, whose reporting experience includes cryptocurrency and technology).       Ad Earn money by sharing your space. List your place now. Start listening with a 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook plus two Audible Originals are free. Visit audible.com/insidenews

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