The distribution of political power could be reshaped by blockchain, which provides a decentralized alternative to existing structures. The 21st century world is connected, but not centered. These are both good things. Connections link people, cultures and ideas. Indeed, all the great advances in human history have been the result of social and economic networks. Without the trade routes of the Indian Ocean, the Islamic world would never have acquired the numerals of India that now form the foundation of our mathematics of science. Without the coffeehouses […]

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Bitcoin price failed to break through the $7,800 resistance and now likely to backtest levels that have recently flipped into new support. Whereas Bitcoin (BTC) was hovering at $6,500 earlier this week, it has since rebounded to the resistance zone of $7,800 but failed to break it on the first attempt. Crypto market daily performance. Source: Coin360 As the short term trend is still upwards, should traders be cautious about the recent price action? Let’s take a look at the charts.  Bitcoin still inside the downwards channel […]

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An estimated 0.2% of all XRP transactions are used for illicit activity. How true is this figure and how does it impact the industry? It’s the clichéd rhetoric of choice for anyone seeking to discredit crypto. An ace in the hole for any argument against its proliferation. The go-to thesis for those who know very little about cryptocurrency but wish to appear otherwise.  The idea that cryptocurrencies are solely utilized within illicit activities has become both a tool for mass media to disparage the industry and, for […]

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The Grin project has already successfully hard forked once already earlier this year with a change in the C29 PoW algorithm from Cuckaroo29 to Cuckarood29 and now a second hard fork has been planned. Grin’s Hard Fork 2 is planned for block 524160 that should be reached sometime in January next year (around the middle of the month) with the testnet expected to fork a month earlier. Compatible versions of grin node, grin-wallet, and grin-miner will be versioned 3.0.0 or greater with the first releases of these […]

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Bitcoin node sync would be impossible without the scalability improvements implemented in the node software, according to BitMex Research. Bitcoin (BTC) node synchronization would be impossible if it were not for the improvements that have been made to the software, according to the research arm of crypto exchange BitMex. BitMex Research measured the Initial Block Download (IBD) times of Bitcoin Core software releases from 2012 to 2019 needed to download the blockchain and verify it and shared their conclusions in a blog post published on Nov. 29. […]

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Next year is to be crucial for the crypto industry in Europe, when the EU Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive will be transposed into the national legislation of each EU member state. In January 2020, the regulatory landscape for crypto businesses will completely change in the European Union in comparison with the last decade — and these changes will touch all those who store clients’ crypto funds or provide fiat-to-crypto exchange services, at minimum. Not long ago, the Anti-Money Laundering regulations were extended to cover cryptocurrency custodian wallet […]

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Over the past four years the price of Bitcoin has seen moves of more than 30% during the holiday month of December — so will this year also see volatility? At just over 10 years old, crypto’s largest asset Bitcoin (BTC) has made a name for itself as a volatile asset, as shown by its past price action. December, in particular, has seen a notable chunk of this volatility with price moving more than 30% since 2015.  As 2019 nears its end, Bitcoin looks back on a […]

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Bitcoin bulls will be buoyed by talk of the need for “a new, neutral global reserve asset” is rife at the heart of the traditional financial sector. Bitcoin (BTC) bulls will no doubt keenly watch talk of the need for “a new, neutral global reserve asset” at the heart of the traditional financial sphere.  Financial Times business columnist and associate editor Rana Foroohar published an opinion piece on Nov. 25, pointing to the renewed, half-justified “paranoia” of the “gold bugs,” which has only been compounded by comments […]

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