Aaron Decker | Bitcoin Slots.us

Binance to Launch Combined Stablecoin Trading Platform

Posted on November 28, 2018November 27, 2018 by Aaron Decker

Binance, the largest crypto trader on the planet is set to release a combined market for stablecoins. This is great news for stablecoin enthusiasts not just because Tether (USDT), the most popular stablecoin is rumored to be part of the mix, but also because the sector is set to receive a lot of great publicity because of Binance’s actions – as it stands, the exchange does close to double the 24-hour volume of its nearest competitor, which makes a very great ambassador for all things crypto.

The so-called stablecoins have been all the buzz lately simply because they are pegged to solid assets such as the USD and they are growing even more popular as a number of reputable platforms have begun taking them more seriously. Tether (USDT), as mentioned earlier, is the most popular but its popularity tends to lean more towards the controversy that surrounds it.

Why Are Stablecoins Becoming Such a Big Deal?

Well, stablecoins operate based on a pretty simple mechanism, that is, a management team stores money on a bank account and this amount forms the basis of the coins that the management team of a stablecoin provider sells to its users. In essence, the system is entirely dependent on trust from its users. By trusting coin platforms, the users also have a great deal to benefit from with one of the most notable ones being the fact that they will never need to go through the lengthy processes of depositing funds from crypto exchanges back to their bank accounts anymore.

Stablecoins also allow their users to store funds in USD-denominated coins when not trading is going on hence their name. Other than Tether, there are a number of other dollar-pegged stablecoins on the market. However, even combined they are still not capable of covering the whole market once they pick up the pace of their growth. Other popular stablecoins include USD Coin and Paxos Standard. Binance believes that more stablecoins will appear from other platforms in the near future with some even being pegged to non-USD fiat currencies such as the Euro or Sterling Pounds.

Binance’s Plans

In its new joint stablecoin market venture, Binance has plans to launch a platform and there are very strong indications that Tether (USDT) will be one of them. The company further plans to change its ticker to USDⓈ with the S symbol in a circle representing specifically stablecoins on the platform.

The cryptocurrency exchange is currently actively preparing for a stable market for the new stablecoins – in fact, it appears that the company already has a solid operational scheme or plan for the period when the assets eventually begin to flood the market. This is very possible due to the very low lows that the crypto market has been dealing with lately.

Travel Far-East with CryptoSlots’ “Trip to Japan”

Posted on November 14, 2018November 14, 2018 by Aaron Decker

CryptoSlots has been making waves in both the online gambling and crypto worlds as it goes from strength to strength with some of the best crypto-powered online slot machine innovations on the planet. The Slotland-owned online gaming platform has been releasing a number of new game projects and nearly all of them have been able to deliver on the company’s mandate to give its players the very best gaming experience. Having crypto in the mix makes it even more appealing to gamblers who happen to be crypto enthusiasts as well.

“Trip to Japan” is the most recent addition to CryptoSlot’s robust portfolio on crypto-powered online slot machine titles and just like the products that came before it, the game offers some of the most attractive deposit bonuses in the business. While these bonuses will only be available until the end of Wednesday, November 14, the game allows players to spice up their far-east adventure with a bunch of other generous promotions and innovative features.

The Details

Trip to Japan is a 5×4 slot machine that includes extra features for high wins coupled with generous bonuses that will make playing a very rewarding. Despite that CryptoSlots is barely six months old, the online crypto casino which is the side project of renowned slot machine operator, Slotland, has managed to stay ahead of the competition by consistently releasing well-designed, innovative and entertaining games. Trip to Japan is its fifth slot machine title release since it was launched earlier this year in May.

In the game, players spin through samurai swords and sushi for exotic wins. It further includes Double Wilds which are meant to help the players to form winning combinations across the reel as well as scatter symbols that activate the game’s built-in Win Multipliers and Free Spins bonus round.

To play the fresh and crisp slot machine games, players only need to be of the gambling age and have an operational email address. As such, the sign-up process is not only very straightforward but very simple even for people who are completely new to online slots machine gaming. The emphasis on the crypto aspect of the online gaming platform is confirmed by its assurance that the gaming environment will always give players from all parts of the world maximum control over their wagers and maximum anonymity.

“Players don’t have to take us at our word that our games are fair, Provably Fair gives them the tool with which to prove it for themselves,” said Michael Hillary, casino manager.

As always, players who choose to play Trip to Japan will be able to use some of the most reliable and trusted cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. These include Litecoin, bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.

Coinbase Now Valued at $8 Billion Despite BTC Price Plunge

Posted on October 31, 2018October 30, 2018 by Aaron Decker

Bitcoin just turned ten but this year has been quite shaky for the digital currency. Still, while there have certainly been significant lows with regards to its price, there have also been a number of great things it has brought forth for the thriving and equally resilient crypto community. One of the biggest beneficiaries of this has been Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange whose value has been skyrocketing despite the bitcoin slump the industry has experienced in the past few weeks.

On Tuesday, October 30, the San Francisco-based company officially announced a $300 million fundraising round, which, as it turns out, brings the company’s new valuation at $8 billion. This makes it one of the most highly valued exchanges in the United States and among the top ones in the world. The $300 million deal is a massive increase from Coinbase’s previous valuation, which was $1.6 billion in August 2017.

Led by Tiger Global Management, the Series E round included participants such as Wellington Management, Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain and Y Combinator. Coinbase plans to use the funds from these series to “accelerate the adoption of cryptocurrencies and digital assets.” Already, these plans seem to be already paying off since the company has already landed the No. 10 spot on the 2018 CNBC Disruptor 50 list, something that has been partly attributed to perfect timing – Coinbase took advantage of the huge opportunity that was created when bitcoin skyrocketed to nearly $20,000 towards the end of 2017.

Catering to Institutional Investors

Cryptocurrencies, in general, have had one of hell of a year losing over 65 percent of their value due to less retail interests. Coinbase, on the other hand, managed to invest immensely in its master plan to cater to institutional investors which has been a defining factor of the company’s success in the world of crypto. In 2018, the company has launched a suite of offerings for tailored specifically for professional investors. Coinbase Custody, one of these offerings, has just recently received regulatory approval from the New York Department of Financial Services.

In addition to that, the company also recently partnered with Circle, another crypto-based company for a project aimed at supporting a digital currency known as “stable coin” which is being marketed as a U.S. dollar-backed cryptocurrency. This particular plan plays into Coinbase’s grand plan to bridge the gap between cryptocurrencies and fiat currency in all regulated markets as well as building out its custody offering “to bring more institutional funds into the space.”

“We see hundreds of cryptocurrencies that could be added to our platform today and we will lay the groundwork to support thousands in the future,” Coinbase President and Chief Operating Office Asiff Hirji added.

Coinbase’s equity and valuation should help the company achieve all this and more by allowing it to add new assets to its very popular trading platform.

Blockstream’s Liquid Network Project Finally Goes Live

Posted on October 17, 2018October 17, 2018 by Aaron Decker

Blockstream, a blockchain technology company has recently announced the launch of the Liquid Network, the company’s revolutionary take on the concept of bitcoin sidechains. This project is expected to supersede the limitations of the regular bitcoin blockchain by being able to withstand heavy transaction volumes that are often experienced by brokers, exchanges and other cryptocurrency services experience. At launch, the Liquid Network already had over 20 exchanges including Xapo, BitMEX, and Bitfinex on boards which indicates how eager industry stakeholders are about solutions to the problems associated with volume transfers on the bitcoin blockchain.

What It Does

The primary purpose of the Liquid Network will be improving transaction speeds as well as efficiency on the bitcoin blockchain while at the same time facilitating a more ‘liquid’ movement of bitcoin between exchanges. In addition to the primary objectives, the Liquid Network will also introduce such features and functions as confidential transactions, issued assets, and a new token.

Liquid Network’s new token, L-BTC, is pegged to the price of bitcoin and its holders can readily trade it for BTC. Issued assets, on the other hand, will be Liquid Networks way of tokenizing fiat currencies, securities, and even gold and treating them as Bitcoin equivalents.

According to a blog post written by Blockstream, the Liquid Network went live om September, a few days prior to the announcement. The post further outlines the company’s plans to add more features in the future – these will include integration of the GreenAddress Wallet as well as third-party hardware wallet support from Trezor and Ledger.

How Does It Compare to The Lightning Network?

Both the Lightning Network and the Liquid Network are sidechains of the bitcoin blockchain, i.e., they allow for transactions to be performed off of bitcoin’s main blockchain thus allowing service providers to avoid the inconveniences of the bitcoin network. However, unlike the Liquid Network, the Lightning Network is primarily intended to cater for smaller transactions since it relies on the power of nodes with relatively limited capacities, perhaps one of the reasons why its adoption has been hampered.

“Liquid allows parties to send funds to any destination, without the need to establish channels ahead of time. Funds in Lightning are ‘hot’ (private keys are online), whereas you can store Liquid Bitcoin in both hot or cold wallets. Liquid also has the ability to have Lightning added as a second layer as well, so we view these two technologies as complementary and both important for the ecosystem,” Blockstream’s CSO, Samson Mow explained.

Blockstream’s short-term goal is to build out the features of the Liquid Network so as to ease its introduction, and subsequently, wider adoption in the wider crypto community. In the long term, the company is aiming to have bitcoin as the epicenter of more sidechains that will facilitate the seamless and interconnected exchange of the crypto industry’s many assets.

Lightning Network’s New Use Cases Could Be Big Boost for BTC

Posted on October 3, 2018October 3, 2018 by Aaron Decker

Bitcoin has continued to trade on a rather narrow range, reflecting on the overall mood of the market following the weekend consolidation. Fortunately, things are about to get more interesting following a recent Lightning Network breakthrough that is definitely going to give bitcoin proponents some renewed optimism in regards to mainstream commercial adoption of bitcoin or cryptocurrencies in general.

The growth and widespread adoption of the Lightning Network has been going quite well and with more developments being unraveled, it is expected to be a major catalyst to spearhead the adoption of bitcoin.

Ricardo Reis, a cryptocurrency and tech enthusiast from Brazil has recently been all the buzz in the crypto circles after he created a new use case for the Lightning Network that allows users to buy Coca-Cola bottles (or any other items) from vending machines.

How It Works

In a 42-second video titled “Coke vending machine that accepts Bitcoin payments through Lightning Network,” the computer programmer demonstrates how easy it is to pay for certain items using the new infrastructure layer. Reis used a handful of off-the-shelf materials such as a water pump, a Raspberry Pi, some wood, a touch screen, and some programming skill to build a handmade automated vending machine that accepts bitcoin payments for Coca-Cola bottles. The modified machine uses the Lightning Network to process the bitcoin transactions.

As seen from the video, the bitcoin users would be required to scan a QR code which then requests a bitcoin payment that is then issued by the customer using their BTC wallet. Once the payment is received by the modified vending machine, it dispenses the Coca-Cola bottle while at also paying a negligible amount in transaction fees to the Lightning Network which supports the service.

Could This Be It?

As much as this new modified bitcoin-Lightning Network vending machine is without a doubt a novel demonstration of how both technologies can be easily integrated into thousands of different services, it also acts as a more practical and serious demonstration of the open source nature of the blockchain. Both of these factors are what will drive the cryptocurrency revolution that we are all waiting for.

Unfortunately, the vending machine is just a proof-of-concept and is still at its earliest stages – in fact, of course, it still has no affiliation to the actual Coca-Cola company. The Lighting Network and the payment solutions it supports are still in their in their early stages of development but such innovation as the one that we have discussed above will be a great move forward for the entire cryptocurrency market.

Treasury Committee Report Calls for Crypto Regulation

Posted on September 19, 2018September 19, 2018 by Aaron Decker

MPs on the Treasury select committee have recently issued a report that states that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are “wild west” assets that expose investors to a litany of risks and therefore, there is an urgent need for their regulation. The report further pointed out concerns that consumers were left unprotected from the unregulated crypto market which also happens to be a conduit for criminal activities such as money laundering and illegal trade.

Apparently, the government and regulators have not been proactive in handling the arising issues that are associated with the crypto market – according to the Treasury Committee.

“Crypto-asset investors are currently afforded very little protection from the litany of risks. Namely, there are no formal mechanisms for consumer redress, nor compensation,” said the committee. “As the government and regulators decide whether the current Wild West situation is allowed to continue, or whether they are going to introduce regulation, consumers remain unprotected.”

Cryptocurrencies are currently covered by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the City regulator, and there are still no formal mechanisms for investor compensation or consumer redress, something that Nicky Morgan, a conservative MP and the chair of the committee, says is unsustainable.

“Bitcoin and other crypto-assets exist in the wild west industry of crypto-assets. This unregulated industry leaves investors facing numerous risks,” Nicky Morgan said. “Given the high price volatility, the hacking vulnerability of exchanges and the potential role in money laundering, the Treasury committee strongly believes that regulation should be introduced… It’s unsustainable for the government and regulators to bumble along issuing feeble warnings to potential investors, yet refrain from acting. At a minimum, regulation should address consumer protection and anti-money-laundering.”

The Treasury Committee believes that there should at least be some regulation to add customer protection and fight money laundering. All of these issues stem from concerns regarding the volatility of digital assets – the prices of cryptocurrencies were so volatile that while the potential gains are quite large, so are the potential losses.

“The FCA agrees with the committee’s conclusion that bitcoin and similar crypto-assets are ill-suited to retail investors, and as we have warned in the past, investors in this type of crypto-asset should be prepared to lose all their money.”

The Treasury Committee’s recommendations have been noted and echoed by a number of stakeholders in the cryptocurrency industry including CryptoUK, a self-regulatory trade association for the United Kingdom’s digital currency industry.

“As an industry, we have been calling for the introduction of proportionate regulation to improve standards and encourage growth,” said Iqbal Gandham, the chairman of CryptoUK. “Self-regulation by the industry was always intended to be a starting point – this must now be matched by government action.”

Booming Games Releases New Disco Bar 7s Slot

Posted on September 5, 2018 by Aaron Decker

The 70s were a great period that was mostly defined by great outfits and hairstyles, great dance and music, the amazing outfits, and, of course, the simple and captivating slots games that were based on various outstanding elements borrowed from the aspects of the era. In fact, slots were all the buzz back in the day with people obsessing over them thanks to the excitement they offered and the possibilities of huge wins.

Well, if you are nostalgic about the casino offerings from the 70s, then this is your lucky day. Booming Games has recently released a new slot game that will take you on a trip back in time to the dancing 70s. Titled Disco Bar 7s, the new disco title features classic designs similar to what existed in the 70s but it will certainly appeal to each and every slots machine enthusiast on the planet. There are a number of other great slot machine offerings but this is definitely among the very best of them.

Disco Bar 7s consists of 3 reels and 10 paylines which are accompanied with a 95.96 percent RTP – these, in addition to the funky tunes and fast-paced gaming that the slot game features make the game a worthy use of your precious time. Winning big is made even easier with a number of cool multipliers, and Wild and Scatters.

Uniquely Themed

Even though Disco Bar 7s is prominently themed to match the look of offerings from the 1970s, Booming Games went out of their way to make sure that the game was a treat for players. Therefore, they opted to pattern it after the classic fruit slot machines and the results speak for themselves – there is nothing like it.

Disco Bar 7s is a very colorful slot game with its bright blues and purples on the reels. However, every colorful element that is added to the game also serves other purposes by contributing to the overall functionality of the game. Players can find Disco Ball Wilds on the reels – this pays the most and doubles wins when it is part of a winning combination. Similarly, the scatters offer nice multipliers when found on the reels.

The Game Play

From the very first glance, players will notice that Booming Games’ intention with this particular offering was replicating the real casino experience. Once they start playing it becomes even more pronounced as they will feel like they are sitting at a slot machine at a real 70s casino. Furthermore, this extends to playing on the go as well – Booming Games also ensure that the game can be accessed on mobile phones and tablets. Whichever method you choose to access the games, the experience will be nearly the same thanks to some next level optimization built into the game.

eToro Brings Bitcoin to Premier League Football Clubs

Posted on August 22, 2018August 21, 2018 by Aaron Decker

Global online investment, FOREX and crypto trading platform, eToro yesterday (August 21, 2018) announced that it has entered into marketing partnerships with seven different Premier League football clubs. The partnership venture which is funded by bitcoin is the very first of its kind and will involve the following football clubs: Brighton & Hove Albion F.C., Cardiff City F.C., Crystal Palace F.C., Leicester City F.C., Newcastle United F.C., Southampton F.C., and Tottenham Hotspur.

“As a global multi-asset platform where you can purchase the world’s biggest crypto assets alongside more traditional investments, we are excited to be partnering with so many Premier League clubs and make history by being the first company ever to pay for a Premier League partnership in bitcoin,” Iqbal V. Gandham, UK Managing Director at eToro said in a statement that accompanied the announcement.

This move is considered to be another great leap forward for bitcoin and the crypto industry as a whole since it is anticipated that it will expose many more people to the idea of digital currencies. Hopefully, this will, in turn, result in new investments, most ideally through the eToro platform.

“The blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrencies like bitcoin brings transparency, which we believe can improve the experience for everyone who loves the ‘beautiful game’, from fans being targeted by ticket touts, or a club negotiating a transfer, we believe that blockchain will revolutionize the world of football,” the managing director added.

Unfortunately, there is a bit of speculation regarding how the move by eToro to partner with soccer clubs will benefit the cryptocurrency industry – the trading platform is now among a growing number of blockchain-based companies that have either inked sponsorship deals with sports clubs or are hoping to do so in the near future. However, it is quite obvious that the money involved in this case is pretty huge and it would be a mistake not to take. Furthermore, it opens up doors for greater opportunities in the world of sports. As for how this will impact the crypto industry, we will just have to wait and see.

What It Entails

The partnerships will involve in-game advertising on digital perimeter boards as well as exposure on each of the seven cub’s social media channels through the creation of what they have termed as “unique content”. The clubs will also be working closely with eToro in a bid to find ways of harnessing cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology at each of the stadiums.

“We are pleased to welcome eToro to the club as an Official Partner, it is exciting to be working with such an innovative industry leader. Much like Leicester City, eToro is an ambitious brand with a significant global reach and we look forward to working together throughout the season,” Jonathan Gregory, Leicester City’s commercial director commented.

Goldman Sachs to Reportedly Manage Bitcoin for Its Clients

Posted on August 7, 2018August 6, 2018 by Aaron Decker

Goldman Sachs, one of the world’s leading investment banks is reportedly considering a custodial service to store bitcoin for investment funds that intend to hold cryptocurrencies, more so, bitcoin. According to a Bloomberg report that cites more than one anonymous sources familiar with the matter, the investment bank has been holding discussions about becoming one of the first mainstream financial institutions to custody crypto assets.

The custody service, if implemented, is going to be a huge gain for crypto funds and simultaneously have greater implications since it would effectively get rid of a major obstacle that has been preventing institutional investors such as endowments and pensions from comfortably adding crypto assets to their portfolios. Well, such custody services already exist, but until now, they have largely been limited to cryptocurrency startups like Coinbase – instead of Wall Street giants like Goldman Sachs, with whom many mainstream institutions prefer to work.

Response to Client Interest

According to the anonymous sources, deliberations on the issue are ongoing but a timeline for when the investment bank will roll out the services is yet to be set. They further confirmed that this is good news since the custody operation in place could also lead to other lucrative ventures including prime brokerage services.

“That means the bank would hold the newfangled securities on behalf of the funds, reducing risk for clients seeking to guard against the threat of losing their investments to rogue attacks,” the anonymous sources clarified.

As it stands, Goldman Sachs is yet to publicly confirm the claims that it is exploring the aforementioned crypto custody service. Instead, the Wall Street giant has opted to reiterate its previous plans from May this year to offer Bitcoin futures.

“In response to client interest in various digital products we are exploring how best to serve them in this space,” the investment bank’s spokesman said in an August 6 publication. “At this point, we have not reached a conclusion on the scope of our digital asset offering.”

If Goldman Sachs does indeed veer ahead with a crypto assets custody service, it will be joining JPMorgan Chase, Bank of New York Mellon, Northern Trust and Japan’s Nomura. The institution has been taking baby steps with their crypto-related offerings – it has not yet set up the full-fledged cryptocurrency trading desk it announced earlier this year – but all the same, these minor developments are huge milestones for the cryptocurrency industry.

Still, it is worth noting that Goldman Sachs remains very cautious about crypto assets despite their confirmed and rumored efforts to venture into the crypto space. In fact, the institution recently published a statement that expresses its belief that there will be further price drops across the crypto market in the short term.

Illinois Online Gaming Set For Hearings in November

Posted on August 4, 2018August 6, 2018 by Aaron Decker

As it stands, most states that chose to examine online poker legislation in early 2018 moved to abandon it, at least until their next legislative sessions kick off next year. Not Illinois though. The state is set to be the next state to fully launch its online gaming industry, a process that will begin when they create a regulatory framework for legalized sports betting.

There are high some pretty expectations following the announcement by a lawmaker who intends to push for comprehensive gaming expansion that will encompass sports betting, online casino games, online poker as well as daily fantasy sports. The lawmaker, Representative Bob Rita who is also the head of the Illinois House Subcommittee on Gaming Sales and Other Taxes, believes that by advancing the proposed regulatory framework bring “tremendous opportunities to create revenue, jobs, and economic growth” in the state.
The lawmaker will be bringing together the two House committees in the coming weeks so as to coordinate efforts for a significant gaming expansion bill that promises a number of economic opportunity initiatives. The first of these subcommittee hearings is scheduled for August 22 with the following shortly after on October 3.

“As I have said from the beginning in working on this issue, gaming expansion presents many tremendous opportunities to create revenue, jobs and economic growth in Illinois,” Rita said in a press release. “The gaming landscape has changed significantly since I took on this issue five years ago, and I want to use these hearings to understand how those changes present new opportunities for us to put the right package together as we look to meet budget needs and provide a spark for our economy.”

The primary focus of the hearings, according to WCSJ News, will be to address the possibility of not only online sports betting but also other forms of online gambling. It is hoped that the hearings will assist the lawmakers in better understanding of the issues that need to be addressed as far as sports betting is concerned. The lawmakers will be returning to the capitol in November – shortly after the mid-term election – for the fall veto session and when this comes to an end we will have a clearer picture of the future of online poker in Illinois.

Too Early To Get Their Hopes Up?

Online poker fans residing in Illinois have quite a lot to be hopeful about. This is because the desire for sports betting and daily fantasy sports in the state is strong and since these issues are certainly going to be discussed rather explicitly during the hearings, the push for online gambling is also going to be just as prominent. The inclusion of online poker and other online casino games is being considered by very many of the state’s casino simply because they have seen the benefits similar initiatives have brought to Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Author: Aaron Decker