Thursday, March 19, 2020

Elon Musk's coronavirus cure from Bitcoin entrepreneurs / Raoul Pal is optimistic on Bitcoin / Bitcoin transactions drop, but that's a good thing

Inside Cryptocurrency .
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Market Watch: Coin prices across the board are up today as the market takes a breather from its recent slump in value. Lesser-known altcoin Numeraire is enjoying a particularly favorable surge, rising over 140 percent in 24 hours.

  • Bitcoin: $5,792 (⬆️ 12.62%) // $105.8 billion market cap.
  • Ethereum: $127 (⬆️ 13.14%) // $14.05 billion market cap.
  • XRP: $0.154 (⬆️ 8.33%) // $6.7 billion market cap.
  • Tether: $1.00 (⬆️ 0.45%) // $4.6 billion market cap.
  • Top 100 Winner: Numeraire: $12.17 (⬆️ 144.25%) // $28 million market cap. 
  • Top 100 Loser: WAX: $0.036 (⬇️ 11.91%) // $39 million market cap. 

Prices are as of 12:30 p.m. ET.

1. Elon Musk, co-founder of SpaceX and Tesla, has tweeted a supposed cure for the coronavirus that has been pushed by two Bitcoin entrepreneurs. The two entrepreneurs are James Todaro, managing partner at Blocktown Capital, and Gregory Rigano, lawyer and inventor of blockchain platform IKU. In response, Joan Donovan, a Shorenstein Center social media researcher, said: "Two Bitcoin entrepreneurs are pushing a self-published 'study' claiming a cure for the virus. They haven't done any original research, but instead have strung together lengthy quotes from other scientists, who have done very limited research. Elon Musk tweeted their paper." She went on to say that this "is dangerous" and that people and that "thousands of people think they can cure coronavirus by drinking tonic water." -@ELONMUSK/TWITTER

Raoul Pal, the CEO and founder of Global Macro Investor, is optimistic on Bitcoin despite recent lows.

Pal says that the current state of the economy may cause the entire system to be at risk of being lost, concluding that Bitcoin has a bigger upside than gold if traditional markets fail.

To read the full story, click below to upgrade to our premium edition of Inside Cryptocurrency.

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3. Throwback Thursday: Bitcoin is treated as property for tax reasons

On March 25, 2014, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ruled that Bitcoin would be treated as property for tax purposes. Because of this, the crypto would be subject to capital gains tax. At the time, it was reported that the move had been expected and marked another step in the wider attempt to make Bitcoin mainstream.

In an IRS news release, it read: "The notice provides that virtual currency is treated as property for US federal tax purposes. General tax principles that apply to property transactions apply to transactions using virtual currency."

The report pointed out that the ruling means gains in value would be treated as capital gains and could be subject to lower tax rates than income. The top long-term capital gains tax rate is 20%, while the top ordinary income tax rate is 39.6%.

Daily Bitcoin blockchain transactions drop, but it's not a bad thing.

The founder of CoinMetric has pointed out why the number of Bitcoin blockchain transactions have dropped and why this is a good thing.

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Scammers are impersonating WHO to steal crypto from donors to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Find out the measures scammers are using to try and steal crypto from donors in a bid to tackle the ongoing COVID-19 virus.

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Binance and Huobi to support Steem's hard fork.

Steem community members are looking for more decentralization. In a bid to answer this, the Hive blockchain network is projected to launch tomorrow.

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Chainalysis: Bitcoin seems to have stabilized for now.

The coronavirus pandemic is causing mass panic among investors, both in the traditional markets and in the crypto space. As a result, the price of Bitcoin dropped to lows of $3,000 earlier this month as traders sold their coins in favor of cash. Yet, according to a report from Chainalysis, it seems that Bitcoin's price may have stabilized.

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Helping healthcare providers fight crypto-related COVID-19 ransomware.

As the world battles to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, healthcare providers are being targeted by ransomware. Find out how these companies are stepping up to help out.

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DeeMoney is the first non-bank institution to partner with Ripple's blockchain technology.

The Bank of Thailand estimates that there are over a million Thai workers overseas, many of whom continue to send money back home. One non-bank institution is hoping to make this easier for them by using RippleNet.

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10. Crypto exchange Binance yesterday announced the launch of peer-to-peer (P2P) trading for five fiat currencies: the Argentine Peso (ARS), the Brazilian Real (BRL), the Colombian Peso (COP), the Mexican Peso (MXN) and the Peruvian Sol (PEN). In the announcement, the exchange said that users can directly buy and sell Bitcoin, Ether, Tether, Binance Coin, and Binance USD using the five Latin American currencies with zero transaction fees on the Binance P2P platform. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said: "Latin America is one of the most active regions for cryptocurrency trading, and peer-to-peer trading is widely used in the Latin American community." Earlier this week, Zhao tweeted that people shouldn't be worried about Bitcoin going to zero, stating "so long as I have a penny left, it won't happen." -BINANCE

This newsletter was written and curated by Rebecca Campbell. She has been writing and reporting on various industries for the past 10 years, more specifically tech in the last three. Connect with her on Twitter.

Edited by Beth Duckett, staff writer at Inside.

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March 19, 2020
Despite cataclysmic headlines related to the Covid-19 pandemic, things are still moving forward in crypto. Here's the story:



Square is launching a bank in 2021. On Wednesday, the U.S. FDIC gave the payments startup conditional approval for a bank charter to launch Square Financial Services, an Industrial Loan Company, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. Bank shot

Stablecoins are holding their own, despite major fluctuations in crypto and equity prices. "With the significant level of 'risk-off' trading in every asset class, cash is again king, and in the crypto market the best representation of that is the more liquid USD [U.S. dollar] stablecoins," said Richard Galvin, CEO at Digital Asset Capital Management. Stable ground

VC deals in crypto remained steady, though the amount invested has dropped. According to CB Insights, 2019 saw only 15 fewer deals than 2018, but deal volume dropped by 34 percent from around $4.2 billion to nearly $2.8 billion. “I don’t think funding [volume] drops is indicative of the health of the industry. … A lot of younger companies are raising rounds,” said Alex Kern, CB Insights analyst. “Larger, more mature businesses didn’t come back for more capital.” Venturing out
 
Hawaii has a new digital currency sandbox. The “Digital Currency Innovation Lab” by Hawaii’s Department of Commerce will exempt participating crypto companies from Hawaii’s burdensome double-reserve requirement. Island innovation

Stock exchange SDX has brought on ConsenSys-backed startup DrumG Technologies alum Tim Grant. The past 18 months have been something of a bumpy road for SDX. The project was forced to delay its rollout, slated for summer 2019, until around the end of this year. Exchange consensus

Storj Labs’ blockchain-based cloud service is ready to store files and documents. “Decentralization… improves security, privacy, and resiliency, while also lowering costs,” for businesses and individuals, said Ben Golub, Storj Labs executive chairman. Cloud clout

It's not all parting clouds for crypto. Demand for BTC options on derivatives exchanges has dried up in the U.S., even as price volatility reaches record highs. On Tuesday, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) traded just three bitcoin options contracts. Bakkt, which offered the first regulated BTC future product, has traded option contracts on just four days since mid-January. Little demand


Bitcoin is gaining ground amid a sell-off in fiat currencies and could rise further if the U.S. stock markets track European equities higher. Feeling bullish
  • Technical charts indicate scope for a rise to key resistance at $5,926.
  • A move higher would confirm a breakout on the hourly chart and may propel prices toward $6,400.


CoinDesk Research's latest monthly report examines Binance, Cash App and Coinbase fiat onramps, crypto's faltering narrative as a safe haven asset, and “criminality” as a use case for crypto networks. The report also looks ahead (and back) to bitcoin halving impacts, as preview to the event slated later this Spring. Full report
 


Bitcoin in Zimbabwe. In this first part of the 6 part “Bitcoin in Africa” podcast documentary series, Anita Posch learns about the current living situation of Zimbabweans and the country's political history. Combining on-the-ground recordings, interviews and thoughtful narration, she paints a picture of why things are how they are, as well as the state of human rights and free speech. Enter Africa

WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER
 

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