Nasdaq Adding Index for XRP Cryptocurrency to Global Data Service - CoinDesk

Nasdaq Adding Index for XRP Cryptocurrency to Global Data Service - CoinDesk
Hackers Used Microsoft Email Accounts to Steal Users’ Cryptocurrency, Report - Cointelegraph
Cryptocurrency market update: price dropping, volume dropping - Yahoo Finance
Cryptocurrency Investors Shrug Off Tether Woes - The Wall Street Journal
How to Build a Better Cryptocurrency Than Bitcoin and Ethereum - Barron's

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 02:00 AM PDT

Stock exchange operator Nasdaq is adding yet another cryptocurrency index – this time for the world's third-largest cryptocurrency, XRP.

The company announced Monday that, through its partnership with New Zealand-based blockchain data and research firm Brave New Coin, it will offer "real-time" index information for XRP starting May 1.

Specifically, the XRP Liquid Index (XRPLX) will offer a spot or reference rate for the price of XRP, quoted in U.S. dollars and "based on the most liquid ends of their markets."

"The XRPLX sources data from only the most liquid exchanges by volume and order-book depth," Brave New Coin said in a separate statement, adding:

"Current constituent exchanges for the XRPLX include Bitfinex, Bitstamp, Poloniex and Kraken with Coinbase to be added in the next review."

The new stream will be available on the Nasdaq Global Index Data ServiceSM (GIDS), its consolidated data feed. The index includes data going back to 2014 and is refreshed every five minutes, Nasdaq said.

The index is calculated using a methodology that has been "independently audited" against the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) principles, the firm added.

Nasdaq first partnered with Brave New Coin earlier this year, when it added indices for bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) to its global data service.

Last month, Nasdaq also started offering two benchmark indices covering the top 200 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization – one with bitcoin and the other without – using data provided by CoinMarketCap.

Nasdaq image via Shutterstock

Hackers Used Microsoft Email Accounts to Steal Users’ Cryptocurrency, Report - Cointelegraph

Posted: 29 Apr 2019 05:45 PM PDT

In worsening news for users of Microsoft's email services like Outlook, Hotmail and MSN, several cryptocurrency holders affected by a recent hack allege that the hackers responsible stole their crypto, as reported by Vice's Motherboard on April 29.

One victim claimed on a Dutch tech forum to have lost just over 1 bitcoin (BTC), or almost $5,400 at press time, when hackers used his email account to reset his password and gain access to his Kraken account on March 31st. Several Reddit users attested to similar experiences.

According to Microsoft, the initial breach took place between January 1st and March 28th of this year, though according to others it may have extended for six months. Hackers initially reached consumer emails via a Microsoft support agent account.

Microsoft's initial email statement to affected users assured them that hackers may have accessed email metadata like contacts, "but not the content of any e-mails or attachments."

Two days later, however, reports surfaced that hackers had indeed been able to read email content.

Microsoft has yet to respond to the latest escalation of this security breach.

This comes just a week after an Independent Security Evaluators report on a "blockchain thief" who has stolen millions in ether by guessing weak private keys, as well as Coinbene's continued denial of losing over $100 million to a hack in March.

Cryptocurrency market update: price dropping, volume dropping - Yahoo Finance

Posted: 29 Apr 2019 08:00 AM PDT

At the time of writing, the cryptocurrency market is consolidating nicely, although volumes have been dropping across major exchanges.

During the weekend, Bitcoin and other altcoins lost some investor confidence after the market dropped about 3%, but we have since seen a minor bounce back up. My medium-term bet is that the entire cryptocurrency market will continue to turn profits, at least until there is some certainty in the economic panorama. However, volumes are getting thinner, which means there is no new money coming into the market at the moment.

Plus, as I mentioned in my morning Bitcoin analysis, I don't think we're out of this bear market yet.

Let's take a dive into what's going on in the cryptosphere.

Bitcoin, BTC

At its peak last week, price touched close to $5,600 before hitting a sell wall shortly after. Volume-wise, things are a bit gloomier. As we can see from the volume bars on the left of the graph, Bitcoin's volume seems to be hinting that people are still betting on a lower price for Bitcoin. Although most analysts consider the BTC bull market to have started already, I for one think we're still going to retest the $3,800 levels before kicking off the official Bitcoin 2020 and 2021 bull run.

Last week, I mentioned as long as the price continues to move above the 200-day EMA we can be confident the bulls are back and buyers are in charge. I also mentioned in case I was wrong, then two things could happen: either Bitcoin follows the path of Litecoin and other altcoins and starts to consolidate above the 200-day EMA (a really bullish scenario) or it drops below the 200-day EMA. In the latter scenario, I argue Bitcoin would first dance around $4,700 for a few days before dropping into the $4,200-$4,400 levels.

Despite that and, because the 50-day EMA crossed the 200-day EMA last week, we might see BTC making new highs. That usually means buyers want to take back control. Nevertheless, my medium-term bet is that Bitcoin will slowly drop closer to its $4,000 support level.

Ethereum, ETH

Ethereum, unlike Bitcoin, is already showing greater signs of price weakness. ETH is now trading below its 50-day EMA after a 9% drop from $167 to $153 during the weekend.

In the early days of April, Ethereum's price went through the roof before a swift correction. As volumes show, traders are betting heavily on a price drop, way below the 50 and 20-day EMAs.

Even though last week I mentioned what a positive sign it would be if the 20-day EMA crossed the 50-day EMA – which eventually happened around April 10 – ETH has been dropping ever since after a minor consolidation around $170.

For the time being, I would be wary of making an entry position above the 100-day EMA, between $148-$150.

Litecoin, LTC

Litecoin has been the main beneficiary of the current bullish season. At the time of writing, it is sitting near $67 after touching $100 during early April.

Still, at the time of writing, LTC has dropped about 25% from its 2019 high. Since last week LTC has dropped 16%, from about $78 to $67, after a major correction among the cryptocurrency segment.

Another worrying fact is that volumes keep getting thinner, and at the moment we see traders betting heavily on a price drop to $36-$44. If that happens, it means the bear market is far from over and traders/investors should be ready to make new entries at these levels.

Ripple, XRP

Ripple is still one of the few top-10 cryptocurrencies which hasn't seen a major push upwards, meaning investors and traders still have time to take some positions.

XRP is currently sitting around $0.30, way below the 20-day EMA, which is currently its resistance level. During the weekend, as it happened with major altcoins, XRP also crippled around 3%.

Volumes are thin as well, and I don't see XRP being a counter-trend to the rest of the market at this moment.

I consider any cryptocurrency to be in a bull run when the 20-day EMA is above the 50-day EMA and the latter is above the 200-day EMA. Only then will I truly believe buyers are totally in control and enough new cash has definitely poured into the market.

Safe trades!

The post Cryptocurrency market update: price dropping, volume dropping appeared first on Coin Rivet.

Cryptocurrency Investors Shrug Off Tether Woes - The Wall Street Journal

Posted: 29 Apr 2019 03:42 PM PDT

A pillar of the young cryptocurrency market is wobbling following allegations from the New York Attorney General's office that the dollar reserves backing popular digital coin tether have been compromised. Investors don't seem too concerned.

Tether was recently trading at around 99 cents, close to parity with the U.S. dollar, according to CoinMarketCap. Prices dipped to 97 cents on Thursday after the New York Attorney General said the cryptocurrency exchange that controls Tether Ltd. used the reserves to cover up $850 million...

How to Build a Better Cryptocurrency Than Bitcoin and Ethereum - Barron's

Posted: 29 Apr 2019 06:00 AM PDT

Photograph by Michael Longmire

In his later years, game theorist and mathematician John Nash became consumed with the concept of a global currency. If such a currency could be backed by a precious metal and hold a strong universal appeal, it could achieve a stable value. It could also avoid the cartel-like control and manipulation that are hallmarks of government-issued currencies, including the coordinated printing of money which results in the weakening of purchasing power.

Blockchain's emergence, and the advent of digital currencies that rely on decentralized "ledgers," made Nash's theory one step closer to reality. Of course, modern cryptocurrency price dynamics do not enjoy the stability that Nash would have liked to see, in part because of a gauntlet of market manipulators and price fixers that have come to dominate this new digital marketplace.

Achieving a currency with both global appeal and stable equilibrium price dynamics requires a structure that serves and balances the interests of two distinct groups: the investors who provide the money necessary to build the new currency systems, and second, the users who exchange goods and services using the currency. This second group in particular is benefitted by a currency with unambiguous, hard, intrinsic value.

Today's purely digital tokens fall well short of this. They lack intrinsic value, for one thing, and in the absence of an unambiguous "anchor" of value, such as a physical asset, there is too much uncertainty around the token's economic value. This fuels price speculation and volatility, as we've seen with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

There have been two major attempts to address these flaws. The first is the dual token system, in which the future value of the currency and its purchasing power are disentangled by offering two tokens. The first is a utility (work-performing) token that does not represent a target for manipulators or speculators because it is designed to bear no market value based on the perception of future value. The second is an investor-geared token presented as a financial instrument that increases in value. While nice-sounding in theory, this hasn't worked. For one thing, a token that specifically accommodates investors is almost certainly a security, which is heavily regulated. For another, as has been seen time and again, people asymmetrically pile into the investor token and largely ignore the utility tokens.

The second attempt to address cryptocurrency's limitations is physical asset tokenization: tying the value of a token to a hard asset. This works a little bit better, but has still run into some headwinds.

Consider a token which tracks the value of one gram of gold in a vault. There is no more case for adoption than there is in simply acquiring physical gold. The "convenience" of blockchain gold is not enough of a motivator to build a following for the token, especially when ETF gold products such as GLD enjoy big, liquid markets.

One solution to these problems is a hybrid token structure in which both a physical asset and a digital asset are contained. Such a structure must include a few key features if it is to succeed.

First, supply of new tokens must be transparently offered at regular intervals to ward off extreme price instability and defend the system against hostile takeover by speculators.

Second, the offering sizes must respond algorithmically to demand, statistically sampled between offering periods. This ensures the selling pressure is not asymmetrically weighted towards either the time of issue or sale. This makes the token economy less susceptible to manipulators, as there are no built-in or obvious opportunities for sellers to dump the token, and fuels an orderly evolution of pricing. The result is a more stable marketplace that caters to long-term participants.

Third, the token must encapsulate a hard asset which has a value the public can easily ascertain. Not only is this an extremely effective device for dramatically reducing uncertainty about the token value, but it provides a mechanism for tracking its price. Rather than relying on past pricing as an indicator of future price, one can look at the hard value of the asset to assess value.

Lastly, redemption of the backing physical asset cannot cause the token to be burned or otherwise destroyed. That's because the concept of burn on redemption forces the token to trade at the spot value of the physical asset (otherwise there would be arbitrage). And forcing the token to solely track the exact price of the physical asset means there's no incentive to use it—people could just buy the physical asset. Eliminating burn on redemption resolves these problems.

This hybrid token structure, explicitly enabled by blockchain technology, can be the realization of Nash's dream for a universal global currency with a global appeal that resists manipulation and maintains purchasing power. It could even set the standard for a new economy and a new way of investing in physical assets. The implications for investors, dealers, buyers and financial institutions are vast. If we get it right, blockchain really does have the ability to change the world.

Seth Patinkin did his PhD work in mathematics under John Forbes Nash at Princeton University and is CEO and founder of Ampersand Markets.

Search This Blog

Cryptocurrency

"ninjatrader margin" - Google News