News

John McAfee has announced the beta launch of McAfee DEX, which is slated to be a “no restrictions” crypto exchange. He must have felt tired of all of the rules and regulations that govern the crypto industry.

So he went and ahead and launched what he calls “a completely decentralized” cryptocurrency exchange that runs on the Ethereum blockchain. The exchange will be such that “nothing is monitored.”

It will require “no name, no documents, no email” and “no bank info.” The beta version is now up and running. It supports all kinds of ERC-20 tokens, as revealed by tweets sent out by McAfee.

The cybersecurity leader and presidential candidate said that as of now, any Ethereum-based token might be listed by any person for free. He also stated that the exchange would not monitor, record, or restrict anything.

The exchange is in perfect alignment with McAfee’s ideals, who has always advocated for decentralized exchanges. He posted a video on Twitter last Sunday explaining how the US and other developed nations regulate the actions and behavior of the general population through centralized and commercial financial institutions. Regulators can shut these institutions down at any time, leaving customers unprepared to deal with the consequences.

John McAfee is for decentralized platforms as they can’t just be closed by anyone. They exist in several places, and it is not possible to control them for a single party. As a result, they cannot be sanctioned or closed down on a regulator’s fancy.

The new platform, McAfee DEX, has been designed in such a way that traders can enjoy full freedom from government interference as they trade and finally reclaim control over their finances.

Sure, McAfee’s new exchange will give grief to some parties, but McAfee has never been shy of taking risks. Time will tell how successful his endeavor will be.

The Aquarian Advocacy Group (TAAG), which has only just launched, has decided to campaign against the proposed Uniform Regulation of Virtual Currency Businesses Act, currently being debated upon by the Californian State Assembly. The advocacy group believes that the law, if passed, could prove disastrous for the not only the cryptocurrency scene in the U.S. but all of the world.

As per the bill, virtual currency companies would have to seek permission from California’s Department of Business Oversight (DBO) to be able to run any operations within the state. They would also have to share all user and transaction information with the regulator, which the regulator would then be able to share with other regulators or foreign governments, shall they wish to do so.

Margaux Avedisian, Executive Director of TAAG, does not comprehend how anyone in the cryptocurrency industry could support the passage of such a proposed bill. Any merger or acquisitions by a cryptocurrency business would have to be consulted with the DBO first, irrespective of company size. Infact, the regulator would also be required to sign off on any changes made to a company’s personal business strategy.

Avedisian is strictly against such a regulatory agency where the regulator could place any condition it choose on crypto companies. The companies would also have to pay to enforce the new regulation, according to the bill. A $50,000 penalty can be charged to companies, for every day that they fail to comply.

California will be majorly affected by the new law. The state has a thriving cryptocurrency industry and was one of the first to allow the use of digital currencies for purchasing goods and services. Avedisian says that the regulation in itself poses no problem, it is the manner in which the regulation is being proposed that is flawed. He believes the law would prove “innovation crushing” and force crypto companies to migrate from California and move elsewhere.

Ethereum may have been subject to some selling pressure yesterday when it found itself in the $160 region, but it’s been on an upward rise today and is currently touching $180.

The aggregated crypto market registered a sharp drop last night and then recovered today. Analysts have their hopes set that ETH is looking to gain even more in the short-term.

Ethereum is trading up by almost 6%, as of this moment, with the price clocking $178.70. Yesterday, the cryptocurrency witnessed lows as much as $165, which was a result of the aggregated crypto market’s downturn.

Its current upward momentum is showing little signs of slowing down. Infact, it has even outperformed Bitcoin in the last 24 hours. So, it can be assumed that ETH’s price action will remain independent from BTC’s, which is currently displaying stability around its current price levels.

ETH’s sudden gain seems to have not surprised market analysts too much. Crypto analysts have actually predicted that the prices for the crypto will climb even higher before it can experience a setback.

Ethereum’s mid-term target is currently around $350 but analysts prefer to believe that it could visit recent highs of $220 in the near term. Of course, whether ETH is able to climb as high depends on a number of factors, including the stability and upward momentum shown by BTC and other significant cryptocurrencies.

Popular Twitter crypto analyst Moon Overlord shared a chart which breaks down ETH’s rise in the market. According to the chart, it isn’t very long until Ethereum can climb to its multi-week highs and expect to target even higher highs.

Another crypto analyst HornHairs, also shared similar views on Twitter, where he expressed that more market gains by ETH was inevitable at this point, with how the cryptocurrency is currently posed in the market. A surge to the upper boundary of $350 seems more than likely.

Cryptocurrency industry leaders are joining hands to help other firms functioning in the crypto space be on the right side of the law, by following securities rules and regulations as stipulated by the US Federal government.

Cryptocurrency bigwig Coinbase, shared a company blog post where it announced that it has co-founded the Crypto Rating Council, which is a member organization intended to assist other crypto companies assess if they are within compliance of contemporary U.S. Federal Securities Law. Other cryptocurrency firms Bitrex, Circle, Anchorage, Genesis, DRW Cumberland, Kraken and Grayscale Investments are other cryptocurrency firms which were present in support at the launch of the Council.

The Council has been tasked with giving a 1-5 rating to cryptocurrencies and tokens, based on their similarity to an existing security. As per the rating system, a rating of 1 will express that the crypto asset has few functional similarities to a security. A rating of 5 will indicate that the cryptocurrency, in question, is absolutely consistent with the definition of a security.

So far, the Crypto Rating Council has rated 20 crypto assets. Out of these cryptocurrencies that it has rated, Bitcoin i.e. the #1 cryptocurrency by market cap has been rated 1. XRP, polymath (POLY) and maker (MKR) are cryptocurrencies which either scored 4 or 4.5.

The Rating Council is clear in stating that the rating should not be confused with industry advice. It is founded on past SEC guidance and case law, as well as the legal and the technical experience of the firms which have made up the group.

Kristin Smith, representative of The Blockchain Association has said that the initiative was pioneered by Coinbase in an attempt to keep pace with the “incredibly complicated (U.S.) securities laws”.  As of now, the Council has only rated the tokens listed by exchanges which are participating in the council. Coinbase’s blog concluded by saying, that all ratings are liable to change.

Altcoins are performing great in the cryptocurrency market all of a sudden. Ripple’s XRP and payments token Stellar Lumens have been driving the market rally of altcoins while BTC has taken a backseat. These altcoins are witnessing an overall increase in both market volume and capitalization.

Current market conditions at a glance

Bitcoin might have been dominating market conditions for this long this year, but Altcoins seem to have finally swayed the market to their favor. While BTC ran out of steam a little above the $10k level, Ethereum has held on to gains above the $200 level. The bullish fundamentals for ETH have been encouraged further by the recent BitPay support announcement. The ETH’s gold cross confirmed the change of fortune on the four-hour chart.

Ethereum has succeeded in gaining a march ahead by another 7% from below $200 to top $211 today. According to Tradingview.com, the altcoin peaked at $215 some hours ago and then finally retreated a little. It is trading at its highest, in more than a month and is currently looking at the resistance level lying ahead, above the $230 price area.

Ripple performing the best

Yes, Ripple token has finally shed off its year’s low and surged up by 20%, from the value it was trading at, in May. XRP had been wavering at the $0.6 level for the majority of the month, before it experienced a surge yesterday and continued to rise till it reached $0.31, before retreating a little itself.

If rumors are to believed, the altcoin may be expecting a tie-up with the San Francisco based blockchain platform, Coinbase. XRP is definitely looking to adopt centralization, what with it moving its tokens around.

Today’s top market performer in the crypto space? Not Bitcoin, not Ethereum – it’s XRP. Tron and Tezos are other altcoins which are performing well. BTC, however, is beginning to lose market dominance slowly.

According to a Stanford Daily report published on 16th September, the Pi Network – a smartphone-centric cryptocurrency network developed by a bunch of bright graduates from Stanford has already significantly consolidated its user base. Launched in March, it has been able to amass half a million users already.

The minds behind the project

A group of four individuals launched the network. They are – business major Vince McPhilip, anthropologist Chengdiao Fan, and computer scientists Aurelien Schiltz and Nicolas Kokkalis. The program aimed to provide the broader public with disintermediated finance.

The distinctive aspect of this network is that it employs a unique “security circles” ledger for validating users. It also stresses on accessibility, which can explain the mobile-oriented UI.

Unlike other networks, mining isn’t carried out using computer-intensive algorithms. Instead, users act as the platform’s security system by vouching for the trustworthiness of a new user. For this reason, it is much lighter in file-size and can be accessed using a free smartphone app, which doesn’t necessitate too much processing or energy resources.

The social trust mechanism seems to have been working just fine for the network. As more and more people join and verify how much another person can be trusted on the network, a global trust graph is created.

The global trust graph then depicts the dependability of a user to record transactions. As a result, users of the platform can directly participate in crypto mining from their phones, using existing social connections.

The founders of the network do not attribute any inspiration from Stanford University towards the creation of the project. They do, however, recognize the contributions of Professors Michael Bernstein, David Mazieres, and Jan Liphardt towards the development of the same.

 

The university’s endowment appears to have invested capital into the crypto sector, including it in the same group as other Ivy League schools such as Harvard and Yale.

Burger King, Germany has been accepting BTC on its website and mobile app from September 3. Let’s look at how Burger King has fared in its earlier brushes with cryptocurrency and how it is postured currently to execute such a decision.

Pay by BTC, get Whopper free!

Burger King was one of the earliest international fast-food chains to accept Bitcoin a payment. Burger King, Netherlands was the first BK outlet to have done so, back in 2016. In fact, burgers were readily sold to crypto holders in Arnhem.

The first Bitcoin embassy on February 8, 2016, made this announcement. If you paid for your Whopper via BTC, you’d be eligible for a second Whopper – absolutely free! The restaurant had also planned to host meetups for individuals interested in alternative currencies.

On May 31 though, BTC representatives in Arnhem clarified, that BK was only executing a well-thought-out promotional campaign at the time. They also expressed that it wasn’t willing to accept Bitcoin as payment for products purchased from them anymore.

After this, Burger King Russia developed its own cryptocurrency – the WhopperCoin and designed a loyalty program around it. Over a billion WhopperCoins were issued in 2017. The cryptocurrency, so devised, was intended for the purchase of burgers and other sides from the chain.

Burger King went as far as to promise a free flagship Whopper to anyone who collected more than 1,700 coins. One can verify how successful this cryptocurrency by looking at YoBit exchange– the only exchange to list WHO.

Finding a Burger King that accepts Bitcoin in Russia and making a crypto payment online are both difficult prospects in Russia. It’s because of the severe interference that local franchises have to be subject to by the Russian authorities.

Cryptocurrency is illegal in Russia, and Moscow’s prosecutor’s office has summoned representatives of BK several times by now. The reason for this is to clarify that WhopperCoin isn’t being issued for general trade and transactions.

Facebook has apparently revealed information on the cryptocurrency – Libra’s, basket breakdown.

 

It is common knowledge that about half of the basket will consist of the US dollar. As per German news daily, Der Spiegel’s report on Friday, the rest will consist of the yen, the British pound, the Singapore dollar and the euro. The stakes will be 14 percent, 11 percent, 7 percent, and 18 percent respectively.

 

The basket of global cryptocurrencies will not include the Yuan, the official tender of the world’s second-largest economy – China. Reuters brought out a report discussing how this might actually be beneficial for Libra in the US, given the fraught relations between the two global superpowers.

 

Facebook reportedly charted the percentage breakdown in a letter to German legislator and former member of European Parliament, Fabio de Masi, as per the report published in Der Spiegel. The newspaper described Masi as a left-winger who believes Libra to be a threat to democracy, financial stability, and freedom.

 

The German is particularly concerned that the cryptocurrency won’t be supported by deposit insurance due to the possibility that corporate sponsors of the coin could tap into the information harvested from its use.

 

The stablecoin has been designed to anchor to a basket of currencies which will facilitate global payments. Libra is governed by a consortium headed by Facebook, which includes Visa, Uber, and PayPal among its members. It has also been the topic of controversy ever since its launch announcement in June.

 

It has been on the receiving end of critique across the world. While lawmakers and regulatory heads have raised concerns around it, the French finance minister has said that it could face a ban in their country. Even a member of the European Central Bank has issued a warning against the threat the crypto-asset holds in a recent report.

 

The risks commonly expressed, have to do with the probable loss of economic sovereignty and control over financial policy. China happens to be in the process of developing its own cryptocurrency to rival Libra.