The Bitcoin Jumper

Posts from around the world about the beginning of something new.. All content belongs to their respecttive owners.

[thebitcoinjumper]

Why did EA snub Battlefield V during its latest earnings call? | Source: EA It's that time of year where the corral of gaming heavy hitters release oft-soporific statistics amid lengthy earning calls to prove their commercial solvency to boards and investors. On cue, EA delivered an optimistic take at the end of last month, covering all its popular intellectual properties including Apex Legends, FIFA, and The Sims, but with one blaring omission - Battlefield V. While other franchises were the topic of in-depth discussion with coverage of sales figures, prospective growth, and plans for future content, EA senior management trio only mentioned Battlefield V in passing: "We create experiences in some of the most popular owned IP in the industry, including The Sims, Battlefield, Need for Speed and Plants vs. Zombies," the firm said. "We've had great success building deeply engaged long-term communities in Ultimate Team, The Sims, Battlefield, Star Wars and more." That's it. There are no other mentions of Battlefield V in what amounted to a 14-page document once transcripted. For the latest entry in a tentpole franchise released less than 12 months ago, the omission is nothing short of a snub, and it says a great deal about Battlefield V's lack of success and how little faith EA has in reversing that glaring failure moving forward. In The News For All The Wrong Reasons Battlefield V got off to a lousy start amid a pseudo-controversy surrounding the portrayal of women during World War 2. A tranche of onlookers felt that Battlefield V was taking too many historical liberties, while those on the other side accused critics of misogyny. VIDEO The unwelcome saga prompted EA CCO Patrick Söderlund (who has since left the company, further raising alarms) to say: "Listen: this is a game. And today gaming is gender-diverse like it hasn't been before. There are a lot of female people who want to play and male players who want to play as a badass. And we don't take any flak. We stand up for the cause, because I think those people who don't understand it, well, you have two choices: either accept it or don't buy the game." In hindsight, however right Söderlund may have been to promote gender diversity in games, his scathing words did little to quell perceptions of a botched announcement. Instead of disregarding bigoted opinions from a subsection of its fan base, EA gave them precisely what they wanted - a reaction and one that explicitly asked them not to buy the game. Battlefield V's Underwhelming Launch Battlefield V has failed to meet expectations in myriad ways. | Source: EABattlefield V's release was similarly disastrous, with the game initially scheduled to release in October 2018 alongside serious competition from Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and Red Dead Redemption 2. EA pushed the release back to allow developer DICE time to improve the core gameplay experience, further entrenching it in the competitive release window. Early sales figures were well below expectations, and reviews were equally underwhelming, citing a strong core but little depth, especially the multiplayer modes. A lack of content, rampant bugs, and few improvements on the excellent Battlefield 1 left players underwhelmed by the rough-around-the-edges gameplay of Battlefield V, not to speak of money-fleecing weapon and character customization features that had EA's greed stamped all over them. Ongoing outrage at EA's lack of consumer-friendly policies and the stagnant aftermath of the Battlefront 2 micro-transactions storm also led droves of franchise regulars not to purchase the game in protest. By the close of the year, EA had sold 7.3 million copies of Battlefield V - a million less than expected. The Slippery Slope of Failure Does EA just want to forget about Battlefield V? | Source: Battlefield V/EABy January retailers began slapping substantial discounts of up to 50 percent on Battlefield V in reaction to weak sales figures. Despite EA marketing Battlefield V as a title with a long shelf life, successive delays to the releases of the episodic Tides of War and the Firestorm battle royale modes did little to keep players interested. When Firestorm finally saw the light of day, EA's other battle royale shooter Apex Legends overshadowed it amid an already-saturated genre. The lack of player pick up meant EA decided to retire the duos mode in May. Although EA continues to pump out content, Battlefield V's failure is all but confirmed. Dwindling player numbers prove the game's legacy will be as a catastrophic endeavor in virtually every area: marketing, a botched service-model, and gameplay that failed to hit the mark. EA's nasty earnings call snub should surprise no one. It's just a preemptive obituary for a giant doomed to fail before it was even released.

https://www.ccn.com/gaming/ea-battlefield-v-earnings-call-snub/2019/08/06/

[thebitcoinjumper]

Kevin O’Leary, the judge of the popular business reality show Shark Tank, has slammed Anthony Pompliano for allocating half of his wealth to bitcoin.“Shame on you,” the television personality told Pompliano on the sidelines of a CNBC Squawk Box debate about bitcoin’s performance against gloomy macroeconomic periods. O’Leary stated that he purchased $100 worth of bitcoins about two months ago, but the value of those assets now dropped to about $30. And if a person does not assume the risks of holding bitcoins and concentrates half of his wealth on them, then he is “nuts.”“I forbid that,” O’Leary told Pompliano. “That’s insane. That breaches everything about diversification and investing.”"I teach this stuff you never go beyond concentrations of that nature. 50% shame on you! That's nuts!" @kevinolearytv tells @apompliano #btc pic.twitter.com/e4pTEt5sgC— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) August 6, 2019Non-correlated BitcoinAcross the table, Pompliano explained why he increased the risks of his portfolio by putting bitcoin, a volatile asset, on the driving seat. The Morgan Creek Digital Assets co-founder told O’Leary that the cryptocurrency had proven itself as a non-correlated asset, i.e., it does not get heavily influenced by macroeconomic events. He stressed that every significant financial institution should hold bitcoin for the very same reason.“Institutions,” said Pompliano, “have spent decades looking for assets to use as a diversification in their portfolio. We’ve been banging the drums [from] over a year saying [bitcoin] is a non-correlated asymmetric asset.”He added that bitcoin surged 55 percent soon after the United States President Donald Trump escalated his trade war against China in May. That proved a negative correlation between the cryptocurrency and every significant financial market, including the benchmark S&P 500 Index and Gold.“There’s people around the world that are electing to put their wealth into something that is controlled by software and cannot be manipulated by a single country or politician,” Pomp said."There's people around the world that are electing to put their wealth into something that is controlled by software and cannot be manipulated by a single country or politician," says @apompliano on #btc pic.twitter.com/3ZpE53xl91— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) August 6, 2019The Shark Does a FlipThe difference-in-opinion between O’Leary and Pompliano surprised onlookers in the cryptocurrency community. That is because O’Leary earlier appeared positive about the prospects of bitcoin. He called the cryptocurrency “a proxy for central bankers,” stating later that he would be interested in it if it’s market valuation soars above a billion dollars.“So is it here to stay? Oh yeah. So will I put 2-3% in it? I think I might,” O’Leary had told CBC in 2013.Comments he made:– “This is a proxy for the mistrust people have in central bankers”– “Once it crossed $1B market cap I became interested”– “So is it here to stay? Oh yeah. So will I put 2-3% in it? I think I might”— Ceteris Paribus (@ceterispar1bus) May 15, 2019His opinions about bitcoin flipped following his attempts to use the cryptocurrency as a mode of payment. In May this year, O’Leary admitted that he tried bitcoin to complete a real estate transaction but fell short due to its price volatility. He later called bitcoin a useless currency.“But everyone says, yes, you can. But, what happens is the receiver wants some guarantee. Let’s say you want to buy a piece of real estate for $10 million in Switzerland. […] They want a guarantee that the value comes back to you as currency at ten, you have to somehow hedge the risk of bitcoin. That means it’s not a real currency.”

https://www.newsbtc.com/2019/08/06/shame-on-you-shark-tank-judge-tells-bitcoin-bull-pompliano/

[thebitcoinjumper]

Crypto lending startup BlockFi received $18.3 million in a Series A funding round led by Valar Ventures, the company announced Tuesday. Valar, which was founded in part by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, was joined by Winklevoss Capital, Galaxy Digital, ConsenSys, Akuna Capital, Susquehanna, CMT Digital, Morgan Creek, Avon Ventures and PJC. Valar’s investment was its first in the cryptocurrency industry following prior investments in other fintech firms like Transferwise, a press release said. According to a company statement, BlockFi plans on using the capital for additions to its product line up. The firm’s premier product, yield-bearing bitcoin deposits, launched in March. Besides deposits, BlockFi offers cryptocurrency-backed loans. Speaking on participating in the Series A closure, Valar general partner James Fitzgerald said BlockFi’s product is bringing cryptocurrency mainstream. “We are excited to help BlockFi build robust ‘picks and shovels’ for this emerging asset class,” he said. The Series A funding round comes five months after the launch of its bitcoin yield-bearing loans. Image via BlockFi Riding on the backs of a promised 6.2 percent interest rate, the product garnered $25 million in deposits after its March 5 launch. By late April, over $50 million was deposited in BlockFi’s interest-bearing accounts. The market-topping rate was cut for larger accounts that same month, however. Accounts with deposits over 25 bitcoins or 500 ether had rates reduced to 2 percent annual yield.  BlockFi CEO Zack Prince via CoinDesk archives

https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-and-ether-lender-blockfi-raises-18-3-million-series-a

[thebitcoinjumper]

After more than ten days of steady growth, the price of bitcoin has managed to reclaim the $12,000 mark. At time of publishing, the coin was sitting at $12,259, up four percent for the day and an astonishing 25 percent for the week.Bitcoin’s market dominance is also on the rise, currently at 68.6 percent—a level not seen since April 2017. This dominance is reflected in the cryptocurrency market charts with Bitcoin showing the most significant 24 hour price gains across the top 20 coins.Bitcoin’s increasing price has been linked to global political tensions, since it is seen as an alternative investment vehicle. There are growing concerns of a trade war between the US and China with both countries trying to stave of an economic downturn through their own monetary policies. In fact, relations have become so bad, Chinese businessman and Tron founder Justin Sun canceled a $4.6 million lunch with notable American investor Warren Buffett—under heavy pressure from China. And with things only looking to get worse, Bitcoin could be set to regain much of the entire cryptocurrency market cap, unless one of its competitors (Ethereum, XRP) can attract the same kind of attention.Bitcoin’s Lightning Network has grown nearly 100% in 2019On the other hand, if Bitcoin’s price is largely being held up by an influx of Tethers—with another $100 million USDT being minted on the Tron blockchain today, then the recent progress may be built on sand.Bitcoin’s growth has brought a few altcoins along for the ride, with Monero up three percent from $78 to $96 in the past seven days. However, despite a gain in dollar value, its value against Bitcoin has still dropped.Other coins have been on a steady decline over the last week, such as Cardano, which fell from $0.06 to $0.05. So for now, it looks like Bitcoin’s monopoly is only going to get stronger.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-breaks-12-000-looks-103053487.html

[thebitcoinjumper]

Facebook poached Susan Zook, a former aide to GOP Senator Mike Crapo, to lobby for its Libra cryptocurrency on Capitol Hill. | Source: AP Photo / Andrew Harnik Facebook has hired a former assistant to Republican Senator Mike Crapo as a lobbyist in their broader campaign to make Libra palatable to crypto skeptics on Capitol Hill. Susan Stoner Zook stopped working as an aide to Crapo back in 2013, according to her LinkedIn profile. From there she worked in various consulting and lobbying positions. Former Crapo Aide to Hawk Libra to Committee Chair and Colleagues Susan Zook will be Facebook's resident crypto peddler on Capitol Hill. | Source: LinkedInRegulators and legislators the world over have expressed serious fears as well as ignorance in the wake of Libra’s announcement. Facebook Libra is intended to be a centralized cryptographic ledger administered by more than two dozen Silicon Valley heavyweights. The social media giant has received severe criticism as a result of its brazen plan to give its billions of users a way to transact without using the traditional banking system. More than one billion people today are technically “unbanked,” however, many of those same people have smartphones with Facebook. Facebook has for years made it part of its core mission to expand the reach of its platform as well as the internet more broadly, through such programs as the failed effort to offer “free” Internet to Indians. Facebook Stokes Regulatory Fears Facebook has incurred the ire of both President Trump and Congress by seeking to launch a cryptocurrency. | Source: Tom Brenner/Getty/AFP (i), Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images / AFP (ii). Image Edited by CCN.According to Politico, Zook will mainly focus on lobbying Republican lawmakers. She has an in-road with the chairman of the Senate Banking Intelligence Committee, Mike Crapo. In mid-July, Crapo expressed only moderate concern about the Facebook Libra project and offered praise for blockchain technology. Crapo reportedly called Facebook’s aims “commendable.” In a statement more than a week later, the Idaho Republican said: “It seems to me that digital technology innovations are inevitable, could be beneficial, and I believe that the U.S. should lead in developing these innovations and what the rules of the road should be. The digital currency and blockchain ecosystem is diverse, and care must be taken in determining what gaps may be present in the existing framework and developing a more comprehensive approach.” Zook’s primary focus will be getting Crapo’s compatriots on board with the idea of a blockchain future, spearheaded by none other than Facebook.

https://www.ccn.com/crypto/facebook-susan-zook-libra-cryptocurrency/2019/08/06/

[thebitcoinjumper]

The Dow Jones stormed into recovery mode as traders found a silver lining in the trade war - more Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. | Source: Drew Angerer / Getty Images / AFP The Dow Jones stormed into recovery mode on Tuesday following its worst loss of the year as traders searched for - and found - a silver lining in the alarming escalation in the US-China trade war. Dow Recovers from Grisly 2.9% Crash All of Wall Street’s major indices took a bite out of their August 5 losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 186.24 points or 0.72%, raising the DJIA to 25,903.98. The Dow embarked on a triple-digit recovery after crashing nearly 3% on Monday. | Source: Yahoo FinanceThe S&P 500 added 25.62 points or 0.9% to recover to 2,870.36. Ten of 11 primary sectors recorded gains, led by technology (+1.6%) and industrials (+1.14%). The Nasdaq surged 105.56 points or 1.37% to 7,831.6. The CBOE VIX, which measures market volatility, fell 13.7% to 21.22, which is right around the historical average. The VIX had spiked as high as 36.2 during the Dow’s previous-session plunge; had it closed there, it would have been its highest close since the Eurozone debt crisis nearly eight years ago. Beijing Stabilizes the Plunging Yuan Though still deep in the red for the week, the stock market enjoyed a sizable recovery on Tuesday for two reasons. First, China took measures to stabilize the yuan, just one day after the country’s central bank allowed the currency to slide below the 7 per US dollar mark. Beijing took steps to stabilize the yuan on Tuesday. | Source: Yahoo FinanceThat action led the Trump Treasury Department to designate China a currency manipulator, and analysts warned that it was an indication that Beijing retained little hope for a US-China trade deal. As Goldman Sachs analysts led by Chief Economist Jan Hatzius wrote in a research note: "News since President Trump’s tariff announcement last Thursday indicates that U.S. and Chinese policymakers are taking a harder line, and we no longer expect a trade deal before the 2020 election.” But while a weakening yuan would mitigate the damage from increasing US tariffs, it would also incite capital flight - something the People's Bank of China (PBoC) does not want to incentivize. Stock Market Bets on Aggressive Fed Easing Worsening trade war tensions could paint the Fed into a corner on future interest rate cuts. | Source: Joshua Roberts / Getty Images / AFPSecond, Wall Street found a silver lining in the expectation that as the probability of a near-term US-China trade deal declined, the odds of aggressive Federal Reserve easing increased. According to CME’s FedWatch Tool, the market has priced in a minimum of two more interest rate cuts in 2019, with a 44.2% probability that the Fed drops its target to 125-150 basis points - or lower - from its current level at 200-225. In fact, Fed Fund futures suggest there is a roughly 7% chance that interest rates sink as low as 100-125 basis points following the central bank’s December meeting. All of those probabilities represent significant increases since the last FOMC meeting, when the Fed reduced its interest rate target for the first time since the financial crisis but also appeared to signal that it wasn’t yet ready to launch an aggressive easing regime. However, if the Fed does pursue these steep interest rate cuts, it will have much less ammunition to combat the next recession when it sets in. And at least one crucial recession indicator has already reached crisis levels. Click here for a real-time Dow Jones Industrial Average chart.

https://www.ccn.com/news/dow-jones-industrial-average/2019/08/06/

[thebitcoinjumper]

The bitcoin dominance rate on Tuesday inched towards 70 percent for the first time since December 2017.At circa $217.91 billion, bitcoin’s market capitalization now covers 69.93 percent of the total cryptocurrency market. At its lowest, the world’s leading cryptocurrency was covering only 36.68 percent of the overall market in January 2018.Bitcoin Dominance Hits 2017 High | Image Credits: TradingView.comBitcoin’s dominance dropped as investors started moving their capital to the assets launched during the initial coin offering mania of 2017. But as a majority of those blockchain projects failed, with their in-house assets losing value in the act, investors either left the cryptocurrency market upon suffering significant losses or hedged back to bitcoin and other reliable assets like Ethereum and Litecoin. As a result, bitcoin’s dominance started surging higher in 2018, even though its value was dropping lower.Bitcoin More Attractive to InvestorsThis time, the fundamentals that are appearing to support bitcoin are macroeconomic. The Fed rate cut, US-China trade war, capital control in China, economic sanctions on Iran and Turkey, as well as hyperinflation in Zimbabwe and Venezuela are some factors that are prompting investors to speculate on bitcoin, a non-sovereign asset.On the other hand, mainstream financial firms are building services to cater to growing bitcoin trading clientele. Fidelity Investments and TD Ameritrade, for instance, are launching bitcoin trading solutions on their platforms. Swissquote, Switzerland’s most prominent stockbroker, has also introduced a similar service just recently. Bakkt, a digital asset platform launched by the Intercontinental Exchange, has recently tested the world’s first physically-settled bitcoin futures contracts.Investors look at bitcoin over other cryptocurrencies because of its real-world potential. Atop that, they are bullish because of its scarcity – bitcoin’s supply will be cut to half next May – which would make it a rare asset to hold in the future.$BTC is near 70% & highest since Dec '17Bad news for majority of alts, some will go up in USD but majority outperformed by BTCAlways wise to hold % of BTC the portfolioHard to imagine BTC was at 35% dom. but with ICO/Altcoin bubble now behind, that may never happen again pic.twitter.com/mj7LW3eK5x— Josh Rager 📈 (@Josh_Rager) August 6, 2019Price Reflecting InterestBitcoin’s 70 percent dominance in the cryptocurrency market also comes in the wake of its strong bullish bias. The asset in the last seven days has surged by more than 30 percent – from $9,371 to as high as $12,320. The surge, in turn, followed Donald Trump’s threat to impose 10 percent tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports. In retaliation, the People’s Bank of China intentionally reduced the price of Chinese Yuan to less than seven dollars a unit, its lowest in the last eleven years.History shows a close inverse relationship between yuan and bitcoin. Earlier in May, bitcoin surged by as much as 58 percent while yuan dropped by 2.5 percent. Analysts believe investors in China, who remain under tighter capital controls, hedged into bitcoin as safe-haven.Notice the narrative change?2017: "Bitcoin is a bubble, only used by criminals and terrorists"Today: "Bitcoin surging as a possible safe haven while trade war escalates"The price is the same as it was before.We are just seeing bitcoin go mainstream.— Rhythm (@Rhythmtrader) August 5, 2019At the same time, all the altcoins are losing value against bitcoin, shows data recordings from the last 24 hours. Ethereum, for instance, is 2.23 percent down against bitcoin. The XRP/BTC instrument is also weak after dropping more than 5 percent in over a day.

https://www.newsbtc.com/2019/08/06/bitcoin-dominance-nears-70-for-the-first-time-since-december-2017/

[thebitcoinjumper]

Bitcoin Daily Chart Alert - Bulls Keeping Foot On The Gas - August 6 Ed Note: We are proud to unveil our new mining page, an entire space dedicated to up-to-the-minute news, with exclusive industry interviews and all the relevant information you need, rounded in up in one spot. Who is merging? Who is Buying? Who is Digging? We got you covered! Editor's Note: Welcome to Kitco's Bitcoin Daily Technical Alert. Every trading day veteran Kitco technical analyst Jim Wyckoff will provide you with a concise and easy-to-understand near-term technical brief on Bitcoin. Importantly, Jim will glean the short-term charts and technical studies, and then alert you to the signals he sees regarding upcoming potential bigger price moves or price trend reversals. Jim's unique and exclusive daily technical report is an absolute must for any trader/investor/market watcher who closely follows Bitcoin. (Kitco News) - Bitcoin-U.S. dollar futures prices are near steady in early U.S. trading Tuesday but did hit a three-week high overnight. Safe-haven demand for the crypto continues amid an escalating U.S.-China trade war. Many speculate there is a flight of capital out of China, some of which is occurring via the purchasing of Bitcoin. The bulls have technical momentum and are working on a price uptrend on the daily bar chart. Stay tuned. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

https://www.kitco.com/news/2019-08-06/Bitcoin-Daily-Chart-Alert-Bulls-Keeping-Foot-On-The-Gas-August-6.html

[thebitcoinjumper]

A Malta-based bitcoin miner has taken action after getting a shock when he received his electricity bill. As reported by Malta Today, the unnamed man had bought a bitcoin miner from local IT firm 3 Group, but found that the power costs were greater than the value of the bitcoin earned by mining with the device. He therefore took his complaint to Malta’s Consumer Claims Tribunal, saying the unspecified €2,600 ($2,900) miner was noisy and did not make profit. Dario Azzopardi, CEO of 3 Group, did not contest the complaint and the tribunal decided that the customer should be refunded €2,000 ($2,240). However, since the decision, the Consumer Claims Tribunal has issued a warning against Dario Azzopardi of 3 Group, saying he has “not honoured the decision delivered by the Consumer Claims Tribunal.” The tribunal said in the statement on Tuesday: “The Tribunal noted that even though Mr Dario Azzopardi has been served with the Notice of Claim, the date and the time of the hearing, he did not attend the tribunal sitting. Furthermore, Mr Azzopardi did not submit a written response to this claim. To the Tribunal this meant that the trader was not contesting the claim. Mr Azzopardi was ordered by the Tribunal to pay the consumer the amount of €2,000. The Tribunal also ruled that the ownership of the engine reverts to the trader after the payment is made.” The balance between running (mostly power) costs, crypto market prices and the amount of cryptocurrency earned by a mining machine is the fundamental factor that controls the mining of proof-of-work blockchains. As part of the process of securing the blockchain and recording transactions, bitcoin has so-called an automatically adjusting “difficulty” that controls how easy it is for miners to crack the mathematical problem that earns them their rewards. The inbuilt mechanism is designed to keep blocks being produced at roughly 10-minute intervals, regardless of how much computer power is applied to the network. But that difficulty requires these days powerful processors called application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that are notoriously power hungry. As such, people and firms entering the mining industry need to take into account whether their miners will actually earn a return on their investment. There are online calculators that will help this process. Recently, bitcoin has seen a record amount of computing power dedicated to securing its blockchain. According to data from BTC.com, the average bitcoin mining hash rate over the last two weeks has reached 71.43 quintillion hashes per second (EH/s), up from 64.49EH/s on July 23 – a 10.78-percent jump since mid July. Bitcoin mining image via Shutterstock

https://www.coindesk.com/man-takes-bitcoin-miner-seller-to-tribunal-over-electricity-bill-and-wins

[thebitcoinjumper]

With the recent historic Quasar protocol upgrade, which saw Bitcoin SV’s (BSV) maximum block size increased to 2GB, Operation Data Blast immediately proved that the upgrade was successful, creating world record block sizes from transactions full of content data. Just recently, Chinese BSV supporter Aaron Zhou wanted to test the blockchain’s ability to handle as many transactions as possible.As he reveals in his blog post, “Bitcoin SV main network stress test report @ 2019-08-03,” Zhou felt a stress test for a massive amount of transactions was necessary. During the test, which lasted for more than two hours, he broadcast more than 2 million transactions, creating a blocks of 808,000 transactions with a size of 210MB and another of 702,000 transactions, with size 183MB. All told, this resulted in transaction fees of over 2 BSV for each of the mentioned block. The BSV blockchain performed admirably, with no blocks orphaned, and no block reorganizations being needed. However, it did show that the stress of that many transactions could cause temporary outages with some blockchain and wallet services.For example, Zhou noted that Blockchair, Money Button, WhatsOnChain, BitcoinBlocks.live and Bchsvexplorer all had temporary setbacks during the stress test. While this could be due to the same node memory issues that service providers have has experienced in the past, it’s also possible that their website and database services, totally unrelated to the blockchain or their nodes, couldn’t keep up with the speed and load of updates created by the blockchain.Zhou made sure to commend BSV.BTC.com, Bitfire.io, Mempool, and Unwriter’s applications, which all worked perfectly during the stress testZhou’s conclusions were such:Quasar is an important network upgrade, and BSV is on the road to dealing with massive transactions and continued expansion.1. Large block propagation and verification, normal2. Massive transaction dissemination and verification, normal“But you can do better. It is noted that the two chunks are very long-out, because it is a very time-consuming operation to verify massive transactions, which is where future improvements can be made.The lesson to take away from this stress test is that the blockchain is ready to handle the load, but the businesses who contribute to its infrastructure will need to keep pace.The BSV Node team has informed CoinGeek that it was able to handle the load of the stress test with only 8GB of memory in its node, but recommends having 16-32GB of RAM to be safe. At the same time, make sure the rest of your infrastructure, like web services and connecting databases, can keep up with the impressive load of transactions coming across the blockchain.Now that Bitcoin is professionalizing, it’s important that everyone involved professionalize as well. BSV is not a hobby project; it’s the future data ledger and digital currency of the world, and it requires the infrastructure to support it for those ambitions. As great as this test could have gone, the real transactions will be coming soon, and all partners involved will need to be ready for it to prove that BSV is the blockchain for enterprise usage.Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (SegWit) chain are referenced as SegWitCoin BTC coins. Altcoins, which value privacy, anonymity, and distance from government intervention, are referenced as dark coins.Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) is today the only Bitcoin project that follows the original Satoshi Nakamoto whitepaper, and that follows the original Satoshi protocol and design. BSV is the only public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin and will massively scale to become the world’s new money and enterprise blockchain.

https://coingeek.com/bitcoin-sv-handles-2-million-transactions-in-massive-stress-test/

[thebitcoinjumper]

Dow makes a predictable recovery from Monday's massacre but isn't out of the woods yet. | Source: Shutterstock After the Dow shed almost 1,000 points on Monday, stock market futures point to a slight recovery on Wall Street this morning. Tuesday’s bounce, however, is tainted by the Treasury’s recession indicator which plunged to a level not seen since before the 2008 financial crisis. As the trade war between China and the US escalates, the recession alarm is screaming. The yield curve inversion hit lows not seen since 2007 on Monday. Source: BloombergDow rebounds after 2019’s worst day on the stock market The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 890 points on Monday, falling 3 percent in the biggest drop of the year so far. The slump was triggered after China “weaponized” the yuan by letting it fall beyond the key $7 level, in what was perceived as retaliation to Trump’s trade threats. Dow futures point to a rebound in the US stock market on Tuesday with a 212 point surge in pre-market trading. US stock market futures followed the European markets higher after China took steps to limit the yuan’s slide against the dollar. Elsewhere, Asian markets ended in the red with both the Shanghai Composite and Japan’s Nikkei index limping into negative territory.  Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures point to a rebound on Wall Street after the stock market's worst day of 2019. Soure: TradingViewRecession bells threaten the stock market Monday’s plunge triggered the Treasury’s favorite recession indicator, sending it to crisis levels last seen in 2007, just months before the global financial recession. We are, of course, talking about the inverted yield curve.  An inverted yield curve occurs when long-term Treasury bonds return less than short-term bonds. On Monday, the three-month US Treasury bill yielded 32 basis points more than the ten-year bill - the most significant inversion since 2007. The indicator has accurately predicted every recession for the past 50 years. It’s worth pointing out, the trigger is not immediate and can take months to play out. The yield curve first inverted in March this year and has flirted with the 2007 low ever since. Dow braces for no trade deal In another ominous sign for the stock market, Goldman Sachs said it no longer expects Trump to sign a trade deal before the 2020 election. Chief economist Jan Hatzius wrote in a letter to investors: “News since President Trump’s tariff announcement last Thursday indicates that U.S. and Chinese policymakers are taking a harder line, and we no longer expect a trade deal before the 2020 election.” A trade deal was widely expected to help ease stock market tensions, but that catalyst now seems further away than ever. Instead, traders are looking to the Federal Reserve for new stimulus. With the recession alarm triggered again, investors are beginning to price in the likelihood of another interest rate cut in September.

https://www.ccn.com/market-news/dow-recovers-recession-alarm-hits-crisis-levels/2019/08/06/

[thebitcoinjumper]

July saw Bitcoin pivot around $10,000 while altcoins continued with the lagging. Walmart’s crypto would in the form of a stored-value card that is linked to the US dollar. The cryptocurrency market is in the middle of a recovery phase from the extreme volatility in July. The total market capitalization is back above $300 billion. In fact, it is standing only $1 billion lower from $311 billion recorded on Monday. Bitcoin remains the market leader in terms of dominance on the market. BTC dominance currently stands at 68.2% (the highest level since April 2017). According to Binance Research Global Markets, July saw Bitcoin pivot around $10,000 while altcoins continued with the lagging. The report cites “both lower volumes on mid and small-cap altcoins and the Bitcoin dominance waiting at high historical levels.” Bitcoin price update Bitcoin price pushed above $12,000 as already covered by FXStreet. The price hit $12,323.77 highs on Tuesday before diving under $12,000. At press time Bitcoin is teetering at $11,743 amid the rush by the bulls to defend $12,500 support. On the brighter side, the 4-hour moving averages are still below Bitcoin’s market value while playing catch-up. Walmart’s crypto likely to face mild regulatory scrutiny compared to Libra As reported Walmart Inc. filed a patent for a digital asset that does not resemble Facebook Inc.’s Libra. After Facebook's gruesome experience with the regulators and lawmakers, it very likely that Walmart’s crypto will face less political heat. The proposed Retailer’s coin would in the form of a stored-value card that is linked to the US dollar. Unlike other rechargeable gift cards, consumers would get send cash to Walmart and, in turn, get an equal value of the cash in Walmart’s coin. The coin would then be used to buy goods at the store. According to an article on Bloomberg: “If Walmart were to proceed with a digital offering, it could be seen as a threat to small banks and credit unions and is unlikely to be given a free pass from Congress.”      

https://www.fxstreet.com/cryptocurrencies/news/cryptocurrency-market-update-bitcoin-punctures-12-000-walmarts-crypto-and-facebooks-libra-201908061123

[thebitcoinjumper]

In a major escalation against socialist president Nicolás Maduro, Donald Trump’s administration has frozen all Venezuelan government assets. The United States’ hawkish move has been reflected in a new all-time-high for peer-to-peer trading volume on LocalBitcoins in the country.Trump takes on the ‘usurper’As the Associated Press (AP) reported on August 5, the U.S. administration’s action took immediate effect this Monday, with President Trump citing Maduro’s ongoing “usurpation” of power — as well as human rights abuses by his supporters — as the grounds for the decision.Even ahead of yesterday’s strident move, Venezuela has been weathering ruinous economic turmoil sparked by its political crisis. Multiple countries —  including the U.S. — consider Maduro’s last election victory to have been fraudulent and support Venezuela’s opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaido’s attempts to dislodge him from power.While the administration’s decision has stopped short of a full trade embargo, the restrictions resemble the U.S.’ actions against staunch opponents such as Cuba, Syria, Iran and North Korea, as AP reports.Trump’s executive order prohibits U.S. citizens from engaging in transactions with any Maduro or government supporters and also prohibits the latter from travelling to the U.S.The order excludes most private sector transactions as well as the delivery of essential humanitarian aid. Previous sanctions had targeted Venezuela’s oil industry as well as high-level government insiders.Bitcoin in turbulent timesAmid the stand-off, Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will notably today represent the U.S. at the International Conference for Democracy in Venezuela, hosted in the Peruvian capital, Lima.At this unprecedented fraught moment in U.S.-Venezuelan relations, weekly trading volume for Bitcoin (BTC) against the Venezuelan Bolivar on peer-to-peer site localbitcoins.com has posted a new all-time high, as Coin Dance data reveals.Weekly volume for Bitcoin against the Venezuelan Bolivar. Source: coin.danceAs reported, massive hyperinflation and the presidential stalemate in Venezuela this February had already brought Bitcoin volumes in the country to unprecedented levels: a new erstwhile record was set earlier this month as the bolivar’s inflation hit 10,000,000%.As reported this January, Venezuela has railed against U.S. sanctions, including those levied specifically against transactions in the country’s state-issued, oil-backed digital currency, the Petro. In March, President Trump banned US citizens from buying Petro tokens. This July, the non-profit American Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD)  warned that state-based alternative cryptocurrencies based on major commodities such as oil could make sanctions much more difficult to enforce.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-freezes-maduro-govt-assets-as-p2p-bitcoin-volume-soars-in-venezuela

[thebitcoinjumper]

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is reportedly finances for North Korea's nuclear program by targeting cryptocurrency exchanges and financial institutions. | Source: KCNA). KCNA/via REUTERS A confidential United Nations report has revealed that North Korea raked in approximately $2 billion by hacking cryptocurrency exchanges as well as mainstream financial institutions, according to Reuters. The hermit kingdom has subsequently channeled the stolen funds to its nuclear and missile program. The report that was prepared for the North Korea sanctions committee of the U.N. Security Council was compiled by independent experts who have been monitoring the situation in the last six months. According to the experts, many of the cyber attackers from North Korea were acting on the instructions of the country’s intelligence agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, with the specific aim of raising money for the weapons of mass destruction programs: [The state-sponsored actors] used cyberspace to launch increasingly sophisticated attacks to steal funds from financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges to generate income. 35 crime scenes in 17 countries Per the experts, there are ‘at least 35 reported instances’ which are being investigated where the state-sponsored actors from North Korea were involved in attacking cryptocurrency exchanges and banks in about 17 countries. The independent experts also believe that North Korea engaged in cryptocurrency mining as another way of generating income for its weapons program. With North Korea currently under heavy sanctions, it has limited income sources as exports of its minerals and fishery products are banned. VIDEO North Korea’s ROI from hacking crypto exchanges is growing! This is not the first time that North Korea stands accused of turning to crypto to evade economic sanctions. However, this is the first time that the amounts generated from the nefarious activities by the rogue state are exceeding $1 billion. In March this year, it was reported that North Korea had amassed cryptocurrency worth approximately $650 million mainly through hacking crypto exchanges using the state-sponsored outfit. North Korea Stockpiles $650 Million in Crypto, Hypocritical UN Blames Bitcoin https://t.co/BLIx7fni0V — CCN Markets (@CCNMarkets) March 8, 2019 Last year in October, cybersecurity firm FireEye identified the state-sponsored outfit as APT38. At the time, FireEye indicated that the more famous cybercriminal outfit known as Lazarus Group was mostly involved in cyber espionage and not hacking cryptocurrency exchanges and banks. APT38's attack lifecycle | Source: FireEyeIf the $2 billion that North Korea has raked in from hacking crypto exchanges and banks was attributable entirely to APT38, its success while remaining relatively obscure lies largely on its modus operandi. Per FireEye, APT38 plays the long game and is ruthlessly efficient. Additionally, the cybercriminal organization leaves no trail. After launching attacks, the group engages in a ‘constant effort to thwart investigations capped with a willingness to completely destroy compromised machines afterwards’.

https://www.ccn.com/news/north-korea-2b-crypto-exchanges-nukes-program/2019/08/06/

[thebitcoinjumper]

Bitcoin (BTC) price has staged a remarkable rally in recent days, but the reasons behind it could mean higher prices stick around much longer. With BTC/USD now at $12,200, here are the main reasons the cryptocurrency industry considers lie behind Bitcoin’s latest surge higher.1. Global stocks are tumblingAs Cointelegraph continues to report, the ongoing impact of the United States-China trade war is increasingly considered a boon for Bitcoin. On Tuesday, as tensions continued, stocks around the world showed considerable strain. As serial investor Tim Draper noted, the Dow Jones and Nasdaq fell by 2.9% and 3.4% respectively. For the Dow, it was the worst trading day of the year.At the same time, Bitcoin gained 3.2%, the latest in a series of rebounds which ended several weeks of bearish sentiment. Just a week ago, BTC traded closer to $9,500.2. Investors are waking up to Bitcoin as a hedgeCurrent price performance is fuelling attitudes that Bitcoin is becoming increasingly useful as a hedging instrument.As cryptocurrency and blockchain lawyer Jake Chervinsky noted on Tuesday, this quality is an essential use case, with Bitcoin designed to reduce dependence on the centralized financial system.“Bitcoin is doing exactly what it's designed for today,” he summarized. His comments were echoed on mainstream media, with the CEO of consultancy firm Agecroft Partners telling CNBC Bitcoin’s hedging properties will make it a firm favorite for funds in future.3. Bitcoin profits from fiat currency blame gamesAs part of the trade war, the U.S. this week described China as a currency manipulator. The accusation came after Beijing significantly changed its policy of supporting the yuan, allowing it to slide against the dollar.This in turn allowed China an unfair competitive advantage in global trade, treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin claimed. China retaliated by warning the U.S. was “deliberately destroying international order.”For the average investor, an alternative thus makes perfect sense, Hayman Capital Management founder Kyle Bass explained to mainstream media.“If you’re in Asia and China and you’re in a closed currency system, or if you’re in Hong Kong and you can’t seem to get a big conversion of Hong Kong dollars to U.S. dollars what are you going to buy?” he said in an interview with Yahoo! Tuesday.As Cointelegraph reported, Jeremy Allaire, CEO of crypto payments firm Circle, also thinks the situation is spurring on Chinese investors to interact more with the cryptocurrency market.“Humanity has now created a non-sovereign, highly secure mechanism to store value that can exist anywhere the internet exists,” he told CNBC Monday.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/these-3-macroeconomic-factors-are-driving-bitcoin-price-above-12-000

[thebitcoinjumper]

Bitcoin's massive carbon footprint  GeographicalA review of the Bitcoin and the potentially damaging effects it has on the environment.

http://geographical.co.uk/nature/climate/item/3317-bitcoin-and-its-environmental-impact

[thebitcoinjumper]

As each of the major indices registered their worst percentage losses for a trading day in 2019 after China let its currency weaken against the U.S. dollar to its lowest level in more than 10 years, bitcoin was enjoying a healthy rally.The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap popped by as much as 8% Monday, extending its rally sparked by increasing U.S.-China trade tensions.But the latest trend higher, which has carried bitcoin (BTC-USD) to nearly top $12,000, could just be beginning its early stages if stocks continue to show weakness, according to Hayman Capital Management founder Kyle Bass, who rose to prominence after calling the 2008 sub-prime mortgage crisis.As Bass explains, trade tensions have supported the movement into bitcoin as investors increasingly look to escape volatility in the broader market that has come with the world’s two largest economies battling in tit-for-tat moves and as China’s currency weakens.“If you’re in Asia and China and you’re in a closed currency system, or if you’re in Hong Kong and you can’t seem to get a big conversion of Hong Kong dollars to U.S. dollars what are you going to buy?” he told Yahoo Finance’s YFi PM. “Well, you’re going to buy anything that’s nailed down — you’re going to buy gold, you’re going to buy bitcoin, you’re going to do whatever you can to get your money out of your regime that’s falling.”Montreal, 7 May 2018: Bitcoin real coins over chinese flag fabricA maturing asset classInvestors seeking out bitcoin as a so-called “digital gold” or more stable store of value would mark a large break from its volatile past and could prove to be a defining step crypto evangelists point to as proof it’s maturing as an asset class.But as Bass points out, compared to falling stocks and negative yields on global bonds and as central banks move to counteract slowing global growth, the investment thesis for cryptocurrencies is only made that much stronger. And while more accommodative monetary policies haven’t yet fueled an uptick in inflation, Bass posits the possibility is at least enough to lead some to take a chance on bitcoin.“What’s going to happen is all the central banks will go print more and the price of every asset around the world whether it’s an apartment building, an office building, a bitcoin or a piece of gold or whatever it is the price of everything will go up nominally,” he said, “but real rates of return will come down.”Bitcoin’s price stumbled a bit in late July, falling nearly 20% after Facebook’s (FB) Libra cryptocurrency project drew the ire of Congress and President Donald Trump last month, though some analysts predicted the added attention would eventually be a net positive.That could potentially play out, with bitcoin up 5% to start August, if Bass’ thesis holds true and bitcoin’s inverse correlation to the stock market continues.Zack Guzman is the host of YFi PM as well as a senior writer and on-air reporter covering entrepreneurship, startups, and breaking news at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @zGuz.Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo FinanceRead more:Trump's attack on crypto could push bitcoin up to $40,000 by year-end: Tom LeeIllinois becomes the latest state to legalize marijuana, these states may followThe Farm Bill could end the multimillion dollar industry of cockfighting

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-is-fueling-bitcoins-rally-explains-kyle-bass-090526041.html