China

Top 5 Cryptos Not Named Bitcoin This Week (Mar 29): XMR, BNB, HT, CRO, BSV

Consumer attitudes are changing towards banknotes and credit cards as reports suggest that the deadly coronavirus can spread by their use. The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) has, therefore, urged the central banks to consider developing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). BIS believes that under the current circumstance, CBDCs will quickly gain prominence. However, it has warned that this move could have a “severe impact on unbanked and older consumers.”  Chamath Palihapitiya, the billionaire CEO of venture capital firm Social Capital, believes that the setting is right for Bitcoin (BTC) to

Sophisticated Mining Botnet Identified After 2 Years

Cybersecurity firm, Guardicore Labs, revealed the identification of a malicious crypto-mining botnet that has been operating for nearly two years on April 1.The threat actor, dubbed ‘Vollgar’ based on its mining of the little-known altcoin, Vollar (VSD), targets Windows machines running MS-SQL servers — of which Guardicore estimates there are just 500,000 in existence worldwide.However, despite their scarcity, MS-SQL servers offer sizable processing power in addition to typically storing valuable information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details.Sophisticated crypto-mining malware network identifiedOnce a server is infected, Vollgar “diligently and

Bitcoin Flips Bullish — But Here’s Why BTC Price May Still Hit $3.9K

Bitcoin (BTC) price has gained more than 10% in the last week, giving bulls some hope that the road ahead is a bright one for the leading digital asset.However, despite an effort to blast through the critical resistance level of $7,200 as mentioned in last week’s analysis, there was a huge rejection bringing home the reality that perhaps it may be a little too soon to be expecting a miraculous bounce back to the $8,000+ levels. Daily crypto market performance. Source: Coin360.com$5,500 then moon?BTC USD daily chart. Source: TradingViewI think it’s

Coronavirus & Bitcoin Price: Is China Losing Its BTC Mining Monopoly?

This week the price of Bitcoin (BTC) surged more than 15%, reaching a high at $7,200 before pulling back into the $6,800 range. Despite the recovery, Bitcoin still has a way to go in order to reach the $8,000 level seen before the coronavirus-triggered selloff on March 12.Cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360The drop had several consequences on the Bitcoin network. Having reached the $3,800 price range, the accentuated drop forced some Bitcoin miners to throw in the towel and shut down their operations due to mining becoming unprofitable.As miners have

150-Year-Old Chinese Gas Company Ramps Up Blockchain Adoption

Chinese energy company, Shanghai Gas, announced an expansion of its blockchain efforts following a successful trial partnership with supply chain management blockchain firm, VeChain (VET), on March 31.Shanghai Gas, founded in 1865, is owned by utility services company, Shenergy Group — which claims to occupy more than 90% of Shanghai’s gas market. The firm has an annual supply of over 8 billion cubic meters.Shanghai Gas expands blockchain adoptionShanghai Gas’ trial used distributed ledger technology, or DLT, provided by VeChain to comprehensively monitor its supply chain and identify opportunities for efficiency

Bithumb Global Launches Margin Trading for Bitcoin and Ether Pairs with Tether

Bithumb Global, the international platform of South Korea’s top crypto exchange, has rolled out margin trading with 5x leverage for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) trading pairs with Tether (USDT).In an announcement published on April 2, the exchange revealed the service would be available on its website and app. It will, however, be restricted for traders living in jurisdictions where margin trading is prohibited or capped — as, for example, with Japan.  Leveraged trading gains traction in the industryMargin trading enables traders to use borrowed funds in order to increase their

Huge Rise in Chinese ‘Blockchain’ Companies — But Are They Real?

More than 35,000 blockchain companies are operating in mainland China —  but it’s believed that many of them do not even use blockchain technology.In the first quarter of 2020, as COVID-19 shut down factories, offices and cities across the  world, 2,383 brand-new “blockchain” companies sprung up in China.This brings the total to 35,010 companies as of April 1 — over 20,000 in Guangdong province alone — according to Tianyancha, a business data company.But in mid-February data firm LongHash estimated that approximately 70% of the total number of blockchain firms registered

Is Decentralized ASIC Production Possible?

The news about ASICs for Nervos CKB came out recently, as the time of writing, there are four ASICs announced, the Toddminer C1, Toddminer C1 Pro, Bitmain K5 and PA miner — the first batch of C1 was delivered on March 9, K5 and PA Miner are expected to be delivered in April and C1 Pro in May.Since mainnet launch, the total hashrate on CKB mainnet has been around 200TH/S on average, it is now gradually picking up (at the time of writing at ~500TH/S) with ASICs. Toddminer says C1+C1

Bitcoin Surges by 10%, Gold and Stocks Also in the Green

We’ve been seeing new hockey stick graphs every day lately and today is no exception. The weekly jobless data just came out from the U.S. and the numbers were even worse than any analysts had guessed. This chart shows the number of Americans who filed for unemployment for the first time last week. Notice that the number is almost exactly double the average analyst forecast (gold bar). In total for the last two weeks, that makes nearly 10 million people out of work due to the virus fears. That’s about

How the Pressures of the Coronavirus May Open the Door for Tokenization

The coronavirus pandemic is the only thing on most people’s minds right now around the world.The pending economic fallout is only surpassed by the anxiety induced by surging cases in both the United States and Europe. People remain firmly in quarantine around the world, and consumer demand has fallen off a cliff as people are holed up with only basic necessities.Paired with the awful Purchasing Managers’ Index numbers published by the National Bureau of Statistics and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, as well asearly U.S. indicators, we’re about