Cryptocurrency – Page 2 – Bitcoin Slots.us

CryptoSlots.com and BTC HEAT Go Live with New Offerings

Posted on October 24, 2018October 24, 2018 by Abe Efe

Cryptocurrency-only casino, CryptoSlots.com is once again all the buzz in the online gaming scene thanks to its new innovative original slot machine title known as Coin Rush. The new slot game lets players spin through familiar cryptocurrency symbols in a bid to make winning combinations across 20 active paylines. Naturally, the bitcoin logo is the highest paying Coin Rush symbol, but players will also be in for some big wins if their combinations include Litecoin, Monero or any other high-value coin in the slot game. In a typical sense, all of Coin Rush’s symbols have values that correspond to what they are actually worth in the real world.

Launched in May this year, the Slotland Entertainment backed CryptoSlots.com debuted with a robust selection of outstanding slot machine and video poker titles all, all of which were proven to be provably fair. Just like the online casino’s all other offerings, Coin Rush is packed with tons of bonus extras that include Free Spins gifting up to 99 bonus rounds as well as several Double Wild Symbols.

“Our casino is perfectly tailored to the wants and needs of the crypto community,” CryptoSlots manager, Michael Hillary, commented on the new product. “Our players will love the theme of this new game, and its generous Free Spins Bonus.”

Coin Rush and the entire website, in general, is great for crypto users since, unlike many other online casinos, the players will only be required to provide their email address and consent to a prompt asking them if they are of the legal gambling age. Other than the unmatched level anonymity that the site is offering, players will also be able to access extremely fast payouts through BTC, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin – more are expected to be added for Coin Rush gaming soon.

BTC HEAT Debuts Free Bitcoin Slot Games

BTC HEAT is a newly launched online gaming site that allows players to enjoy free slots and other market investment games. On signing up, the players are given free spins which they are allowed to refill every three hours. But that is not even the best part.

While players do not need to make any deposit at BTC HEAT, they are given the chance to win real bitcoin (BTC) which can then be withdrawn to specific wallets. How is this possible? Well, BTC HEAT monetizes the site through ads, that is, it displays videos, graphics, and offers. The profits gotten from these advertisements are then put in the main prize pool. The more players spin the reels, the more they add to the site’s pool and this gives them an even higher chance of winning some bitcoin.

Signing up is also pretty easy as all that the players need is a valid bitcoin wallet address – this makes it a very safe gaming platform as players do not have to give out their personal information in order to play. Moreover, the anonymity the site offers is incredibly appealing, especially for gambling and crypto enthusiasts.

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.

Google Lifts Its Ban on Cryptocurrency Advertisements

Posted on September 26, 2018September 25, 2018 by Abe Efe

Earlier this year (in March), Google announced a cryptocurrency ad ban that it went on to roll out in June – these were intended to protect its consumers and involved wallets, trading services, and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). This is all about to change with the company on September 25 ending the ban on cryptocurrency advertisements.

In a new update to its advertising policies, the company emphasizes that at the ads that would be allowed would only be those of “regulated” trading sites.

“The Google Ads policy on Financial products and services will be updated in October 2018 to allow regulated cryptocurrency exchanges to advertise in the United States and Japan,” Google explained. “Advertisers will need to be certified with Google for the specific country in which their ads will serve. Advertisers will be able to apply for certification once the policy launches in October. This policy will apply globally to all accounts that advertise these financial products. For more details, see About restricted financial products certification. The Financial products and services page will be updated once the policy goes into effect.”

Google was one of the tech companies that moved to prohibit cryptocurrency advertisements alongside Twitter and Facebook, though the latter later relaxed some of the restrictions it had placed on cryptocurrency-related advertisements. Google’s ban was so wide-ranging that it affected offerings from both legitimate wallet services and trading professionals.

This crackdown on crypto went on to rapidly spread across the internet leading to various bans from other companies, including LinkedIn, MailChimp and Snapchat. Even though this was meant to stop or at least slow down scammers on the internet it also whipped out legitimate blockchain projects which in turn slowed down adoption of digital currencies, stifled promotion and stoked more fears about mainstream acceptance of crypto.

The Reason Is Yet to Be Known

As is it stands, there has not been a clear explanation as to why the tech giant has chosen to lift the ban barely four months after it imposed it. It is speculated that the company believes that the hype that surrounded crypto, as well as the negative side effects associated with the skyrocketing values, have finally died down are at least reduced significantly. Still, it is possible that Google is simply keeping its eye on the prize i.e., the valuable ad money that crypto will bring in.

“We don’t have a crystal ball to know where the future is going to go with cryptocurrencies, but we’ve seen enough consumer harm or potential for consumer harm that it’s an area that we want to approach with extreme caution,” Google’s Scott Spencer said in June when the original ban was rolled out.

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.”

200 ICOs and Cryptocurrencies Under Active Investigation

Posted on August 29, 2018August 29, 2018 by Abe Efe

The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), an international task force that is tasked with tackling securities violations in the cryptocurrency industry, on August 28 announced that it has opened active investigations into over 200 initial coin offerings (ICOs) and crypto-related investment products.

First launched in May, the operation – referred to as “Operation Cryptosweep” – has been targeting a number of suspicious crypto investment products. It is composed of regulators from the United States and Canada which makes it the largest coordinated investigation by state and provincial officials. It has also already seen through 47 enforcement actions against ICOs and cryptocurrency investment funds in the U.S. and Canada, something that has earned its praise from Jay Clayton, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The violations the operation has uncovered range from securities fraud to failure to properly register products before offering access to investors.

According to NASAA president and Alabama Securities Commission director Joseph Borg, the regulatory operation continues to commit significant resources to ensure that retail investors are protected. This is especially because many cryptocurrency advocates and financial watchdogs are split on how the ICOs and crypto firms should be regulated. NASAA’s contribution is, therefore, one of the best developments in the sector since other than protecting the retail investors, it will also serve to raise awareness among industry participants in regards to their regulatory obligations and responsibilities.

“While not every ICO or cryptocurrency-related investment is a fraud, it is important for individuals and firms selling these products to be mindful that they are not doing so in a vacuum; state and provincial laws or regulations may apply, especially securities laws. Sponsors of these products should seek the advice of knowledgeable legal counsel to ensure they do not run afoul of the law. Furthermore, a strong culture of compliance should be in place before, not after, these products are marketed to investors,” Joseph Borg added.

Do Your Homework, Investors Told

As it stands, NASAA is the oldest international organization whose main focus is investor protection – it is based on voluntary association and boasts of 67 member states, provinces and territories across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. However, despite its far-reaching capabilities in handling irregularities in the crypto within the mentioned areas, there still needs to be some element of support from other stakeholders.

The operations president has highlighted the need for ICOs to register with the appropriate agencies or, if possible, contact regulators to check whether they qualify for exemptions or not. He further warned investors against dealing with ICO promoters claiming their products is exempt from securities registration unless of course, the claim is verifiable.

“Do your homework and contact your state or provincial securities regulator with any concerns before parting with your hard-earned money — afterward may be too late,” he pointed out.

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.

India Considering Crypto Tokens for Financial Transactions

Posted on August 14, 2018August 28, 2018 by Abe Efe

Indian authorities have recently revealed that the country has been exploring tokenized datasets and other cryptographic forms of blockchain technology albeit while still maintaining their rather unfavorable stance towards cryptocurrencies citing their potential role in unlawful activities such as money laundering. As such, the prevailing ban on cryptocurrencies is likely to continue regardless of the government’s interest in issuing digital tokens for financial transactions.

“There are lots of issues that need understanding and lots of studying needs to be done,” a government official who requested to remain anonymous said. “Blockchain is an interesting thing. We definitely want to milk it effectively for financial transactions. So all officials are really trying hard to understand how to separately use blockchain, without cryptocurrency. And understanding a new software takes time.”

According to local Indian news outlet, DNA India, the country’s government have been considering the applications of crypto tokens in several different areas. However, as clarified by the new outlet, the government has excluded any use of cryptography and blockchain technology for the purposes of cryptocurrencies or any other sophisticated means of money transfer and international transactions. In fact, the officials believe that the crypto-tokens, including the ones they are exploring, do not themselves hold any inherent value. Instead, they represent an underlying asset that is only accessible to the private key holders. This implies that the crypto tokens will certainly not be serving as a substitute for fiat currency but will be representing an underlying value so as to enable faster and more transparent payments.

“One will need to pay physical money to buy a token which could be stored as a code in any basic mobile feature phone. It can even be used for remittances. So, it is easy to implement from technology as well as a regulatory point of view. But in the case of cryptocurrency, one needs to allow it as a legal tender first,” the DNA India report explained.

Spearheaded by a Committee

India’s finance ministry has since set up a committee headed by the secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) for this initiative. The committee has been tasked with working on a set of regulations and a roadmap to guide the use of the proposed assets in India. A drafty of these regulations, once drafted, will be forwarded to the country’s parliament for further approval.

“The committee is studying the possibility of using cryptocurrencies or crypto technology (distributed ledger technology) for financial transactions and also what kind of regulations are needed for that [while] the currency is totally banned, the committee is discussing its other uses and how it can be mainstreamed in India,” Subhash Chandra Garg the DEA secretary, who is heading the committee, said.

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.

First Fully Regulated Cryptocurrency Exchange Goes Live

Posted on July 31, 2018August 15, 2018 by Abe Efe

Crypto has been on a roll with a ton of new developments popping up every single day. While the nascent industry is certainly headed towards the right direction, achieving full regulatory approval is a very big deal, especially for cryptocurrency exchanges – it is even harder for them to get regulatory approval before they launch. Well, not anymore.

Liechtenstein-based Blocktrade.com has just been approved by the Finance Markets Authority and is set to be the first digital currency exchange to be open for testing – the Financial Markets Authority is a member of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). In a press release, the company confirmed that is in the process of obtaining a multilateral trading facility (MTF) license courtesy of the European Union’s MiFID II framework.

Blockrade.com’s launched the beta version for testing last week – this trial period is set to end on August 25 and will be followed by the full launch though the actual date of the launch is yet to be revealed.

“I hope early adopters will provide us with valuable feedback so that we can improve the platform even further. I believe its capability, as well as its user experience, are impressive, so I am convinced the word about our beta release will be spread widely. We are already setting up interviews with major financial, fintech and business media, so I will get a chance to talk about our development and vision for the future of finance,” Blocktrade’s CEO Luka Gubo said in a recent interview.

During the aforementioned initial testing phase, Bolcktrade.com will be offering Ethereum, bitcoin, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ripple’s XRP trading pairs. Once the platform is fully launched later this year (around September), it will offer Security Tokens, Crypto Traded Indices and Tokenized Assets.

“We believe that if you operate an exchange and if you have an orderbook with a matching engine, you should also be regulated as an exchange. This removes the hurdles for traders (retail and institutional alike) to access the new asset class as the full MiFID II compliance makes us more transparent, reliable, trustworthy and enables equal access for all,” Gubo added.

The State of Crypto

Unfortunately, many institutional investors still regard the unregulated exchanges that dominate the crypto market as risks due to the lack of transparency. In fact, as it stands the European Union is yet to come up with a unified position and regulatory requirements for the cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the territory.

As for the MiFID II which came into effect at the beginning of 2018, the licensing process is quite explicit and will certainly do for now. To put this into perspective, it requires that the companies seeking its license prove that they have operated fairly, honestly and professionally in the best interests of the users of their platforms. The institutions also have to comply with a number of reporting, transparency and capital requirements.

Tag: Cryptocurrency