Your Cryptocurrency Newsletter for 14 August, 2020

If you are interested in cryptocurrencies, this newsletter is for you. [img]  [Learn more about RevenueStripe...](   [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [img]( [FeedBinary Newsletter]( [Rising Cryptocurrency Menace: Why The Government Must Urgently Formulate A Policy]( There was a small news report in 2018, followed by another about an alleged criminal Amit Bhardwaj, said to be the mastermind of $300 million Bitcoin sale and got bail from Supreme Court in April 2019 on grounds of health. Financial crimes, banking and currency related frauds, misappropriation to the tune of millions of rupees are so common now and huge in size; and hardly anyone has been convicted till the present government came in. Therefore, this news on some remotely heard currency like Bitcoin and fraud perpetrated through crypto exchanges did not really stir or shock anyone. However, if you consider that Indian economy has lost about $15 billion through Bitcoin and other digital currency routes, then the neglect of such a serious matter is at our own peril. This indifference arises from the fact that people don’t know enough about this mysterious repository of international funds. It is also shrouded in technical mumbo-jumbo like Blockchain technology that it is does not cross anybody’s mind that the dark web is the route of international trade in this currency and various kinds of criminal transactions. It is not that the current government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unaware of the problem. In fact, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has banned trading in Bitcoin. But, it is as simple and difficult as banning porn on the Internet. You can’t really ban it. What is needed is intelligent tracking mechanism to take timely action. Bitcoin and similar digital currencies have wide ramifications for the slush fund universe and terror industry. It seems it has not been taken cognisance of it the way it should be. There was a closed door United Nations (UN) conference with an Indian think-tank Begin India Research, specialising in cryptocurrency forensic in December 2019. A report on cryptocurrency and terror funding was released during this conference. Interestingly, it was chaired by Dr Subramanian Swamy, who has more exposure to international finance and slush money than most of the Indian politicians due to his international connections and strong academic background. I am sure, Indian government agencies too would have been present. The fact that UN itself has got involved in this exercise shows the international ramifications of Bitcoin and tech-backed cryptocurrencies. Sensing the invevitable march of technology, Dr Swamy said that India should have its own digital currency. According to Bitcoin.com, the RBI governor had an internal meeting to examine this possibility, but it didn’t find favour. There is also a case in Supreme Court against RBI for banning Bitcoin. Apparently, Bitcoin and similar digital currencies are very serious issues and deserve better exposure and more serious discussions than what has been done so far. There is something amiss. It is the lack of attention from media, including media specialising in finance, to highlight the criticality of this issue and woolly understanding of Indian finance managing institutions like RBI in controlling the demon. Why do I call digital cryptocurrencies, and their facilitating crypto exchanges as demons? Look at some startling facts – The figure of $ 15 billion drained out of Indian economy is an educated calculation by Deepak Kapoor of Begin India, a think-tank working in this domain. This money has been siphoned off online via various cryptocurrency scams away from any country’s central bank or legal jurisdiction. A positive sign is that out of this, $7 billion has been traced online by an India-based research company, not recovered as that is in government domain. This drain is much more dangerous for the nation and safer for the players than the famous tax-havens, as of now. It is claimed that more than 70 per cent of all the cryptocurrency held in crypto exchanges is used for illegal activities like terror funding, arms, narcotics, child trafficking and ransom calling, apart from innocuous activities like gambling. These slush funds of the dark web can cripple and undermine central bank of any country and also that country’s currency. For India, the big risk, apart from dangerous terror funding, is rapid growth of cryptocurrency transactions. Reason, obviously, is its anonymity and difficult traceability in a country with lax laws and an attitude of locking the barn after the horses have bolted. This could result in large chunk of commerce shifting to online black money. Crypto exchanges are run on the most secure networks based on latest technologies. Our Finance Ministry and all related financial institutions are generally run by generalists, mostly IAS and IRS. Their inclination towards status quo implies that they may not be fully capable nor they may have the in-depth skills to fight this menace. It is possible that intelligence agencies too may not be fully conversant with the depth of these operations, or may not have enough muscle to take the institutions along. The most worrying fact is that nearly 68 per cent of cryptocurrency today is in the hands of China as they are the largest cryptocurrency miners and originators of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether etc. To control this menace, the government may have to bring in policy legislations for which the lawmakers will have to be educated on this topic. Generalists will not do, specialists will have to be invited by the government to help formulate such policies. Bureaucracy will have to be realigned to the new rising threats to the nation. All the agencies involved in national security will need to be taken into confidence. RBI and its technical arm ReBIT will need serious retraining to bring themselves up to the mark. According to specialists, we may be two years behind the world in this matter. A small country like Ukraine, seems to be much bigger knowledge hub in cryptocurrencies than a country like ours. I hope the policymakers and relevant leaders get this message and we can take the right steps to strengthen our economy. [Read Full Newsletter Here]( The post [Rising Cryptocurrency Menace: Why The Government Must Urgently Formulate A Policy]( appeared first on [Feed Binary](. [Read Full Story]( ------------------ [Everything You Need to Know to Profit From the DeFi Hype]( Many experts now believe that the bull run is still far from over. Between July and August, Decentralized Finance (DeFi) cryptocurrencies have experienced unprecedented growth, and have largely outpaced the gains seen by top five cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).Many experts now believe that the bull run is still far from over and that these assets have attained just a fraction of their potential growth. Here’s what you need to do to get in on the action. Do Your Own Fundamental and Technical Analyses Although you have probably heard that some traders are making incredible profits by trading DeFi and other promising coins, it’s important to understand that identifying profitable cryptocurrencies and capitalizing on opportunities is a learned skill. By performing fundamental analysis, you can find out whether a cryptocurrency has the right attributes needed to achieve success over your desired investment timeframe. This means looking into the project’s tokenomics, team experience, partnerships and roadmap, market sentiment, and more to see whether it is undervalued, overvalued, or just right. If the project is overvalued or undervalued, then performing technical analyses can help to determine an optimal entry point to either go long (on undervalued assets) or short (overvalued assets).One of the simplest ways to spot profitable market setups is with a market tracking platform like NewsCrypto, which has a range of tools and indicators—including predefined charts for a range of cryptocurrencies, performance indicators, and a simple coin calendar of important upcoming events. NewsCrypto will also be adding its own DeFi tracker soon, allowing traders to easily keep tabs on promising projects. These features can be used to perform your own market analyses to help easily spot opportunities less well-equipped traders would likely miss. The platform also has a range of intermediate and advanced tools, like arbitrage and sentiment indicators. Traders looking to get an edge on the market can buy NewsCrypto Coins (NWC) using a variety of payment methods, including Google Pay, PayPal, and Visa, which can then be used to unlock these tools. Identify Opportunities Once you’ve got a handle on technical and fundamental analysis, the next step is finding coins that may be poised to appreciate in value. In the world of cryptocurrency, it isn’t uncommon to find digital assets that manage to rack up gains of 10 to even 100x in a year. However, spotting these ahead of time can be a challenging, but highly rewarding endeavor. Arguably the simplest way to do this is by participating in the earliest funding rounds of the promising projects. This allows you to purchase or earn tokens at the lowest possible price and stand the best chance of turning a positive return on your investment.This can mean participating in initial coin offerings (ICOs), security token offerings (STOs), and initial exchange offerings (IEOs). It’s also worth looking into projects that are being launched under novel funding models, as these have historically generated impressive returns for investors. For example, the first coin (Orion Protocol) launched through a dynamic coin offering (DYCO) generated a peak return of almost 8,000% for investors between July and August 2020. Now, with the advent of a new type of investment method known as a strong holder offering (SHO), interest is so high that the first SHO project (OpenPredict) has had to divide its token sale into five phases to help manage demand. This is a strong demonstrator of the continued hype surrounding DeFi projects. Overall, the hype associated with decentralized finance has led to many micro, small, and even medium-cap cryptocurrencies exploding in value in recent weeks. Nonetheless, it’s important to stick to the fundamentals, and apply fundamental and technical analysis where possible to maximize your odds of making a profitable pick. Place Your Order and Manage Risk After you’ve found the ideal asset and identified your entry and exit points, you’ll then need to find a suitable exchange that supports the trading pair you want. One of the simplest ways to do is by checking the cryptocurrency page on one of the numerous price tracking platforms.Here, you’ll be able to find a list of available markets and the exchange platforms they can be traded on. It’s usually best to trade on the platform with the most liquidity, but be sure to consider security, reputation, and trading fees when making your decision. It’s important to note that newer cryptocurrencies may only be listed on decentralized exchange platforms like Uniswap. These are often some of the riskiest assets, but some have been known to generate impressive returns for those with a high risk, high reward appetite.After placing your order, it’s important to set a reasonable stop loss. Depending on the volatility of the cryptocurrency and the liquidity of the exchange you are using, this might be as tight as 10% below your entry price (for relatively stable assets), to potentially much lower if the asset is prone to dramatic price swings. Once you’re in profit, you might want to consider opening a trailing stop order. This will work to move the stop to a fixed percentage or value below the current value in a climbing market. This can be used to maintain a stop loss even while the asset is appreciating. [Read Full Newsletter]( The post [Everything You Need to Know to Profit From the DeFi Hype]( appeared first on [Feed Binary](. [Read Full Story]( ------------------ [Learn About The Bitcoin Halving]( Bitcoin halving is one of the most anticipated crypto events. It is one of the ways through which Bitcoin ensures stability. It helps avoid flooding of the market while also ensures uninterrupted flow.There is a lot to understand about Bitcoin halving. Follow this article to know the impacts of the halving on the crypto. You’ll also know how mining works and the sustainability of Bitcoin halving. Mining The best way to understand the importance of halving is first to know how Bitcoin comes into existence. Bitcoin is mined using powerful machines. These high-energy consuming machines come with special software for the miners. Miners work such that they compete in solving complex computational math problems. The one who solves the puzzle first gets a reward. Once a puzzle is solved, another harder one comes up. Bitcoin uses a Proof of work protocol to verify transactions. The systems imply that the miner must show energy and time spent solving the puzzle. They must verify more than 1MB of transactions for the block to count. The block then becomes a node that joins the Bitcoin system. Still, before joining the system, the other traders must verify it. They verify the transactions, which are then added to the blocks to become a blockchain. This ensures the safety of Bitcoin transactions. It also limits any cases of fraud, like double posting. Every new coin comes with a reward, as stipulated by Bitcoin. The rate of mining varies from the machines to the software.  The transactions also vary depending on the difficulty of the puzzle. The earnings, however, are systemic. The current reward for every block is 12.5BTC. The reward changes after every four years through halving. Which bring us to the next main topic of Bitcoin halving; Bitcoin Halving Bitcoin halving is where the reward for mining is reduced by 50%. Miners receive half of what they have been receiving upon the successful completion of a transaction. The halving occurs after every 210,000 blocks. This happens to be roughly four years. Bitcoin has a maximum supply of 21,000,000 blocks. It means the halving will run until 2140. Already there are 18,361,438 bitcoins in supply. Bitcoin mining started in 2009 with the rewards at 50BTC. It reduced to 25 in the first halving in 2012. The next halving happened in 2016, with the value getting to 12.5BTC. The latest halving occurred on 11th May 2020 with the rewards at 6.5BTC. The reduction of rewards reduces the rate of mining. Once the rate of mining is low with the same demand, the value goes up. It is a sure way to manage inflation within the Bitcoin ecosystem. Bitcoin takes pride in the scarcity. It is one of the reasons for the maintained value. The 2020 halving looks to keep the Bitcoin inflation around 1.8%. These are almost the same levels of gold at 1.45% inflation rate. Halving in the past years has come along with price surges. The first halving prompted the rise of the coin from $12 to around $1150. The first halving did not have as many participants as the coin was picking up. Different from July 2016, when users were anticipating the event. The prices started going up almost a month before the halving.The prices hit $1000 in early 2017. Bitcoin reached one of its highest peaks of $20,000 by the end of the year. The prices, however, after some time, reduced to $3,000 by early 2019. These changes show that the effects of halving take some time to reflect. It means the impact of the 2020 halving will take time to materialize. Still, the coin is already on a rising trend. The coin had earlier traded in the lows of $3k. This was a reaction to a slow economy from the coronavirus pandemic. It later recovered to going past the resistance level of $10. Bitcoin is at the moment been trading at around $13k. The coin has gained from the increased trust following the pandemic. Most people are looking for digital assets as the best alternatives. The pandemic has also led to the decline of the dollar. A weaker dollar leads to an increasing value of Bitcoin.Still, several experts have given their predictions on the possible effects of the 2020 Bitcoin halving. Experts Predictions on Bitcoin Halving Most of the Bitcoin experts have given a bullish prediction for the Bitcoin halving. They are mostly relying on the previous halving performance and current run. One of the notable experts is American investor, Anthony Pompliano. He believes Bitcoin will experience a bullish run from the halving. He is also looking into the fiscal stimulus programs from the government. He predicts the coin will hit $533,431 by August 2021. He claims that drawing from the past scenarios; there is a higher chance of the coin rising. Jake Yocom-Piat, the Decred co-founder, also believes in a positive effect from the halving. In a correspondent, he believes the miners will engineer the rise. While the reward halves, the cost of mining remains the same. The miners will, therefore, increase Bitcoin’s selling price. He expects the value of Bitcoin to double, without exact figures. He also expects the coin to stabilize later on. While there seems to be a general positive look, there are other bearish views. One of the bearish movement propagators is Peter Schiff. The American investor prepares the expectant crowds for a possible disappointment. As an economist, he understands a crowded consensus trade has several possibilities.  Bottom Line Bitcoin halving is one of the most important events in the crypto world. It is the stabilizing factor behind the coin. It also ensures the security of the whole system. All the miners ratify transactions hence reduces any chance of irregularities. The only worry is when the halving ends, and there is no more reward. The best option seems to introduce transaction fees to reward the miners. That might increase the cost of using the coin. Still, there are several years to that point. [Read Full Newsletter]( The post [Learn About The Bitcoin Halving]( appeared first on [Feed Binary](. [Read Full Story]( ------------------ [Ethereum DeFi Farmers Rush to YAM, SRM Up 1,700%]( - The Serum protocol token SRM has attracted the attention of Ethereum DeFi investors by registering a 1,700% pump after its introduction. - YAM of the Yam Finance protocol is approaching 50% gain in less than 24 hours after launching.Although the crypto market has suffered a setback after Bitcoin was rejected at the $12,000 mark, the DeFi sector of Ethereum seems to be unimpressed. Almost daily, new DeFi tokens are currently generating large returns that are almost astronomical. Just yesterday, the SRM token of the Serum protocol and the YAM token of the Yam.Finance protocol have written extreme returns. Both tokens were released yesterday, August 11. The first, SRM, belongs to Serum, a decentralized exchange for derivatives. Following the latest trend in the DeFi sector, started by more established protocols such as Compound (COMP) and Aave (LEND), SRM is a token that will be part of Serum’s new more decentralized governance model. As in the cases mentioned for other protocols, Serum seeks to incentivize its users and give them more control by decentralizing the governance model. SRM has been listed by exchanges like FTX, Binance, BitMax, HBTC, Uniswap, Balancer, among others. Within an hour of its launch, the token registered gains of more than 1,000%. Thus, the value of the token went from $0.11 to about $1.50 within hours. At the time of publication, SRM price stood at $1.84. Data of Etherscan shows that SRM has a supply of about 160 million tokens and a market capitalization of $280 million. Thus, SRM has even outpaced tokens such as YFI (year.finance) and AMPL (Ampleforth) in terms of growth and in terms of speed of growth within the first hours of the launch. The token has apparently managed to attract investors through its incentives. In addition to the 4% annual returns on delegating SRM, the platform behind SRM offers its investors 60% discounts on trading fees. These fees are burned to maintain the stability of the SRM offering. Finally, the team behind Serum, FTX, announced the distribution of a “MegaSerum” (MSRM) which equals 1 million SRM to one randomly selected user. Following the launch of the token, FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of Alameda Research, revealed that the exchange has achieved a historically high load: Today was all-time high FTX load and it wasn’t close. We took a lot of preemptive steps to mitigate this, and it mostly kept things online, though there were pain points (e.g. we broke through the number of rows in our KYC table). Time to double FTX’s servers again. YAM tests sustainability of Ethereum’s DeFi sector The second of the tokens launched on August 11th, YAM, has taken the Ethereum DeFi sector by storm. Also conceived as a governance token, YAM offers its holders attractive incentives and the promise of “returning decentralization and democracy” to the DeFi sector. Unlike SRM, YAM doesn’t have a specific supply. Instead, it will have a flexible supply that will be changed in relation to “market conditions”. The ultimate goal of the token is to act as a kind of stablecoin whose value is anchored to the USD. Investors who have COMP, MKR, YFI, LINK, LEND, SNX, wBTC can use their assets as collateral to obtain YAM. Initially, YAM has a supply of 5 million tokens, 2 million of which are distributed in 8 staking pools. As reported by Larry Cermak there is already $343 million of assets staked in YAM. Cermak has been one of the critics of the emergence of governance tokens such as YAM, SRM and YFI. The researcher believes that these tokens create a “vicious cycle” that encourages the creation of untested and unaudited protocols with a high risk of collapse. In that sense, ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees stated the following: YAM looks like a scam… or to be more charitable, fairly transparent pump and dump nonsense. Projects like this are not going to be good for defi… What am I missing? Are the buyers willing participants in a silly game, or are people alleging actual value. [Read Full Newsletter]( The post [Ethereum DeFi Farmers Rush to YAM, SRM Up 1,700%]( appeared first on [Feed Binary](. 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