White House presented the concept of cryptocurrency regulation in the USA, Crypto-Upvotes expert review

New White House directives are aimed at developing financial services industry. As well as to simplify unlimited transactions and fight against scammers in cryptocurrency world

The White House presented first ever concept of regulation of cryptocurrency market in USA, writes CNBC. The new proposals had been under development for six months. This came after President Joe Biden called on authorities in March to study risks and benefits of cryptocurrencies and submit official reports.

One of points of concept is aimed at combating illegal activities in cryptocurrencies. In particular, it is proposed to consider amendments to Bank Secrecy Law. These are laws prohibiting disclosure of information and against money transfers without a license. It is necessary that they are directly related to providers of cryptocurrency services.

The White House proposals also specifically mention potential for Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC). The concept states that digital dollars can make the U.S. payment system more efficient. And creating a basis for further technological innovations that will allow for faster trans-border transactions.

Our experts also noted that the U.S. government believes that digital currencies, especially stablecoins, need to be strictly regulated. Otherwise, they can lead to “devastating effects. This concept points to a collapse of cryptocurrency TerraUSD, which resulted in a series of bankruptcies. And cumulative damage of which amounted to almost $600 billion.

Read More

Why ETH will not become a security. Opinions of Crypto-Upvotes experts

Our experts talked about chances of ETH becoming such an asset after the network update. As well as to what implications this may lead to

The migration of Ethereum from PoW (Proof-of-Work) to PoS (Proof-of-Stake) is complete. Among the possible threats is not only the loss of part of the community represented by miners. But also the risk of recognition of ETH as a security with stricter regulation.

Thus, head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Gary Gensler once again said. That vast majority of cryptocurrencies qualify as securities. And are subject to the relevant laws. Companies that conduct transactions in the cryptocurrency market. Are required to register with the SEC, just like other market brokers.

However, the position of the SEC has not been fully clarified. The agency has expressed its willingness to interact with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on this issue. Because control over virtual asset service providers (VASP) could be passed on to the second of these regulators. That, in turn, would lead to the recognition of leading cryptocurrencies as commodities.

Recognition of ETH as a security would be a disaster for ordinary users. If that happens, the token would likely face large fines. Which ETH may not survive. As well as delisting from 90% of centralized exchanges. This will cause irreparable damage to both user base. And also price, which is likely to go down sharply.

Specific coins that are being considered as candidates for recognition as securities include. Such as Ripple, Stellar (XLM), Zcash (ZEC) and Horizen (ZEN) could include Ethereum in the near future.

Probability of recognition of ETH as a security

Recognition of Ethereum as a security seems unlikely. However, after moving to Proof-of-Stake algorithm, chances for recognition of such status can definitely become higher.

Our experts explain that Howey Test serves this purpose. According to this test, an investment contract is “an investment of money in a common enterprise with a reasonable expectation of profit solely from the efforts of others.” Regarding Ethereum, blockchain coins can be recognized as “money.” And a “common enterprise” is a system of validators in stacking. And the “expectation of profit” is rewards from stacking.

However, our experts pointed out that Ethereum still does not “risk” to move into the category of securities. SEC head Gary Gensler said he would support a bill that would give the CFTC a right to supervise BTC and ETH. In case such law is passed, ETH will actually receive a status of “exchange commodity” officially.

Also our experts say that on another hand, in this case all tokens on Proof-of-Stake can be considered as securities. And regulated in the same way as shares, which is unlikely.

Read More

World War against anonymous cryptocurrencies. What awaits private tokens review by Crypto-Upvotes experts

Our experts told how anonymous cryptocurrencies are affected by stricter regulation. And their delisting from CEX exchanges, as well as prospects for such projects.

Main goal of anonymous cryptocurrencies is to ensure confidentiality of financial transactions. However, with such coins, scams and financial manipulation of cryptocurrencies have increased significantly. Cybercriminals often use these tokens to conceal movements of stolen funds.

In this regard, governments of different countries have a negative attitude to anonymous cryptocurrencies. And they take various measures to limit their use. Some cryptoplatforms are also refusing to work with confidential tokens. Thus, one of the recent negative events was the delisting of Monero (XMR) and another six tokens from this category on major cryptocurrency exchange Huobi.

Trend on delisting of anonymous cryptocurrencies increases

Currently, we are seeing a steady trend towards increased regulation of cryptocurrency. And also drive for large CEX exchanges to get as many licenses as possible in different jurisdictions.

And understanding of anonymous coins by financial regulatory authorities of leading economies is very negative. Anonymous coins are seen as a threat, a tool for scammers. And as a consequence, we see a “world war” against anonymous cryptocurrencies, our experts note.

Demand for anonymous cryptocurrencies is growing

After starting sanctions war between Russia and the West, interest in confidential cryptocurrency increased rapidly. This was due to their ability to circumvent restrictive regulations.

Our expert pointed out that in Q2, anonymous coins showed outperformance compared to the market as a whole.
Whether delisting from exchanges will affect prices of these coins, now it is difficult to say. Such actions by regulators could have collapsed prices in 2017. But now the market has become less susceptible to such news for many reasons.

Given the fact that these cryptocurrencies remain in high demand. Including due to sanctions that have reached cryptocurrency market as well. And wait for a fall in prices for XMR and other anonymous coins from these events should not be our experts’ opinion.

Anonymous cryptocurrencies may lose their capitalization, but not their real value.

 

Read More

Developers of EthereumPoW fork have announced launch date, review by Crypto-Upvotes experts

EthereumPoW supporting mining concept will start working after main network upgrade

EthereumPoW (ETHW) team has announced plans to launch a blockchain. Which will support mining, within 24 hours after main Ethereum network moves to Proof-of-Stake protocol.

Ethereum update is expected to take place on September 15 and will mean the end of ETH mining. And part of participants support stacking concept proposed by developers. And the other part remains committed to a version of network based on mining.

EthereumPoW project was initiated by famous Chinese miner Chandler Guo. Who announced development of a hardfork back on July 27 of this year. This is not the first time he has supported the preservation of old Ethereum. In 2016, when hardfork resulted in Ethereum Classic (ETC). And here as well, Chinese miner was the main supporter of its creation.

At the time of launch, EtherumPow will make public final code, program files, system configuration, node data, and other information about the blockchain. EthereumPoW will first launch 2048 empty blocks. This will ensure a successful switch to new network. And prevent duplicate blocks on ETH and on ETHW.

Some crypto exchanges have already supported PoW trading of Ethereum tokens. Poloniex and MEXC have announced launching ETHS and ETHW trading. And BitMEX has launched a futures product based on ETHPoW tokens.

DAXA Alliance, which includes leading Korean crypto exchanges Upbit, Gopax, Bithumb, Coineone and Korbit. They also announced support for PoW version of Ethereum after blockchain update.

“The Merge” update – this update will mean the merger of Beacon Chain and the main Ethereum network. Which are currently operating separately from each other. This will end the use of Proof-of-work algorithms in Ethereum. And will start era of new Ethereum technology based on Proof-of-Stake technology.

Read More

Huobi exchange will refuse to trade Monero and other anonymous cryptocurrency

Huobi stopped trading 7 tokens. And asked users to cancel all open orders for these cryptocurrencies, Crypto-Upvotes expert review

Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi Global will delist seven anonymous cryptocurrencies. The list includes Monero (XMR), Dash (DASH), Decred (DCR), Firo (FIRO), Verge (XVG), ZCash (ZEC) and Horizen (ZEN). Trading of these tokens was terminated on September 6 on this platform. Which was announced on this platform’s blog on September 12. Huobi team asks users to cancel all open orders for these cryptocurrencies in a timely manner.

Anonymous cryptocurrencies – these are cryptocurrencies that hide transactions in blockchain. In order to preserve anonymity of transaction participants and traces of their actions. Withdrawal function in these tokens continues to function for now.

According to Coingecko, centralized exchange Huobi Global, founded in 2013, ranks 8th by trading volume ($816 million). Cryptocurrency exchange features about 630 assets and more than 1,000 trading pairs.

Also in early August, a largest cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) mining pool named MineXMR announced its closure. Platform team asked miners to reconfigure their equipment to other pools by August 12.

Effects of rejection of anonymous cryptocurrencies

Unfortunately, more and more CEX exchanges are delisting anonymous cryptocurrencies. This is due to the fact that many CEX exchanges must follow the rules of international regulatory organizations. And the internal rules of the country in which they are located.

Most likely, we are facing the start of a global confrontation between cryptocurrency exchanges and anonymous cryptocurrencies. Because tensions have long been brewing between blockchain ideologues and traditional traders. Real cryptocurrency followers follow original ideals of technology and privacy. And traditional traders have come into cryptocurrency world only out of profits.

Perhaps we will soon see what you might call a “hardfork” of blockchain industry. When some currencies will simply become digital money, reminiscent of the usual fiat money of any country.
And part of the investors will use only real cryptocurrencies. Which maintain privacy and security.

Perhaps in the near future we will see new DEX platforms. Which will not follow general rules. And will stick to real cryptocurrency goals. Because cryptocurrencies were not created just to replace ordinary fiat money. Their purpose was security, anonymity, and decentralization. So that no country in world could control these funds. Who will win – regular traders or real cryptocurrency users. We will know in the next few years.

Read More

Increased Bitcoin mining will speed up reduction in mining profits, review by our Crypto-Upvotes experts

Bitcoin halving could happen a few months earlier than anticipated review by our Crypto-Upvotes experts

Due to the increase in Bitcoin mining volumes, next halving (planned reduction of miners’ rewards) may occur several months earlier than predicted. According to analyst portal The TIE – it may happen as early as Q4 2023.

BTC Halving is reducing twice rewards for a mined block. This was originally built into rules of BTC network. At first, miners received 50 BTC per mined block. Then on November 28, 2012, rewards were reduced to 25 BTC. And on July 9, 2016, to 12.5 BTC, and on May 11, 2020, to 6.25 BTC. Next halving is to take place on block 840,000. Presumably, production of which was announced as May 3, 2024.

Usually, for calculating halving dates, average Bitcoin block mining time of 10 minutes is used. But analytics platforms use constantly updated blockchain statistics to calculate. And to estimate current average Bitcoin block mining time, and then use that number for calculations. According to analysts, this makes the countdown more accurate. A similar method is used by CoinMarketCap platform. Which predicts halving also earlier than planned – in February 2024.

Analysts say that the reason why hashrate is approaching is that there is an increase in BTC mining. Now hashrate network has reached historical highs of more than 284 EH/s.

 

Read More

Crypto scammers fake Apple presentations on YouTube, Crypto-Upvotes review

Tens of thousands of viewers watched fake Apple streams with interviews of Tim Cook and Elon Musk promoting cryptocurrencies

Crypto Scammers took advantage of the fact that Apple was holding a presentation of a new phone on September 7. And launched parallel streams on YouTube promoting cryptocurrencies, allegedly on behalf of their company. Tens of thousands of viewers watched live spoofed old interviews with Tim Cook and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Currently, these videos have been deleted.

Scammers on YouTube was live streaming an old interview with Tim Cook. That was seemingly being used to attract attention to a crypto scam. And when it was live, tens of thousands of viewers were tuning.

If you’ve seen crypto scams on YouTube before. You would have recognized a lot of hallmarks of what was going on. The fake live stream was getting attention by filling its description with an array of Apple keywords in both the title and description. But when you actually opened it up, it was filled with odd messages linking to a shady-looking crypto site.

One video titled “Apple Event Live. Ceo of Appl Tim Cook: Apple & Metaverse in 2022” aired an old interview from 2018. Bitcoin and Ethereum logos were added to this video. The number of viewers was up to 70,000.

Our experts have noticed that at the same time, more than 10 thousand people watched another stream on a channel called “Apple Inc”. Allegedly, it was supposed to contain an interview with Tim Cook and Elon Musk about Apple and the metaverse. But in fact it was a faked interview about bitcoins with CEO of Tesla and ex-Chief Twitter Jack Dorsey.

Read More

Cryptoinvestor withdrew $96 million worth of Bitcoin, which has risen 29-fold in 9 years, Crypto-Upvotes expert review

In 2013, an Cryptoinvestor bought 5,000 BTC at about $660 per coin. Now he withdrew Bitcoin, which is currently trading at $19000+

On September 5, an Cryptoinvestor withdrew 5,000 BTC ($96 million at exchange rate at time of transaction) from address, which had been inactive for last 9 years. In 2013, a crypto investor bought Bitcoin at a price of about $660 per coin. During this period, investments increased in value 29 times.

Recently, more and more old holders have begun to withdraw Bitcoin from their wallets. On night of March 10, сryptoinvestor withdrew 489 BTC ($20 million at the time of transaction). His wallet had been inactive for at least 11 years. Unknown bought 489 BTC for $50 at end of 2010. On March 10, he withdrew the cryptocurrency, which went up 400,000 times in price.

Our experts point out that it is useful to be a long-term holder. You just need to buy a promising cryptocurrency and not touch that wallet for a few years. Not a single bank in the world can bring such % of profit. So buy coins from famous projects and forget about this wallet for 3-5 years at least and then maybe you will become a millionaire.

Read More

Leading Korean crypto exchanges will support Ethereum 2.0 after update, Crypto-Upvotes expert review

Five of Korean largest crypto exchanges, united in DAXA alliance. Decided to support Merger of Ethereum and airdrop new tokens

DAXA alliance, which includes leading Korean cryptocurrency exchanges. Announced support for PoW version of Ethereum after blockchain update, decenter.kr reported. Platforms are considering listing and delisting the new asset, as well as its airdrop.

DAXA alliance, created in June this year, united 5 largest South Korean exchanges: Upbit, Gopax, Bithumb, Coineone and Korbit. So far, apart from a statement of support, no action has been taken. But our sources confirmed that the exchanges will try to avoid loss of assets by their customers.

Updating Ethereum blockchain will consist of two phases. The first will be an update called Bellatrix, which began on September 6. If it is successful, “Paris” update will be launched. As a result of this update, a split (hardfork) of network is possible. ETH could split into PoS-version (new) and PoW-version (old). If this happens, two Ethereum tokens will arise, for each version of their network.

Earlier, other crypto exchanges have already supported trading in such tokens. Poloniex and MEXC announced launching ETHS and ETHW trading. And BitMEX has launched a futures product based on ETHPoW tokens. Binance also announced that it will consider supporting new Ethereum tokens.

Currently, Ethereum network is facing a problem after a Bellatrix update. Blockchain has seen a noticeable spike in the “number of missed blocks” – the rate at which network does not process blocks of transactions assigned for verification. That rate has increased by about 1,700%. Before this update, this rate was about 0.5%. And after Bellatrix, it jumped to 9%.

Read More

Investors fear recession. What will happen to Bitcoin in September opinions of our Crypto-Upvotes experts

Our Crypto-Upvotes experts have analyzed situation with Bitcoin on crypto market and told how it can change in next month.

Situation on cryptocurrency market completely depends on dynamics of American stock indices. Which collapsed after the speech of head of the Federal Reserve J. Powell at a conference in Jackson Hole. Over last 30 days, the correlation between Bitcoin and the S&P500 index is 0.77. Accordingly, if the U.S. stock market crashes. Then all risky assets, including cryptocurrency, will also collapse.

Fed is set to take control of inflation and is ready to aggressively raise rates to the detriment of the economy. Fed interest rate futures are pointing to a 75 basis point hike with a probability above 70%.

Since the Jackson Hole symposium, the technical picture for bitcoin has deteriorated. Sellers have broken down trend line from the low of $17,600 (June 18, 2022). They are restrained by support of $18-19 ths. below it the nearest target is near $12.5 ths.

Bitcoin technical analysis shows that situation has worsened

Investors’ attention is now riveted on US non-farm payrolls (NFP) data for August. According to the forecast, they are expected to show an increase in the number of employed people by 300 ths. compared to growth of 528 ths. in July. A strong jobs report will bolster expectations for the Fed to continue its aggressive 75 basis point rate hike. A sharp rate hike is a rally in the dollar and a decline in Bitcoin.

There was also another negative factor which had a negative impact on all risky assets in Asia. Chinese authorities imposed quarantine in Chengdu because of the COVID-19 outbreak. In the past two weeks in Chengdu about 600 patients with COVID-19 and about 300 asymptomatic carriers of coronavirus were identified. 21 million residents will remain in their homes. Businesses will close. Asian markets were followed by declines in European markets. As a result, futures on the S&P500 went down and pulled the pair BTC/USDt.

Also US dollar draws strength from the weakening of the single currency. Because of the energy crisis in Europe, gas prices are rising in Asia and the U.S.. This in turn leads to unwinding inflation in the world. Gas prices in the U.S. and Asia are rising after those in Europe. And the U.S. Fed is fighting inflation by raising rates. Since the euro accounts for about 57% of the dollar index.

Key event in September will be the U.S. Federal Reserve’s meeting. Investors fear a recession from a tightening of monetary policy by the U.S. Federal Reserve. A collapse in indices will trigger a fall in cryptocurrencies. Because buyers failed to pass the $25,500 level in mid-August, sellers continue to control market. The more the indexes fall, the more bitcoin will fall.

In next year, cryptocurrency market will be turbulent

So far, the situation for the technology sector and cryptocurrencies, which are strongly correlated with IT stocks, is alarming. Jerome Powell recent statements about the possible next key rate hike. And remaining inflation risks gave a signal to investors that the market will be turbulent in the next year. It is worth to be patient or to exit from high-risk assets in order to keep capital.

In our view, Bitcoin will continue to trade between $18K and $21K in September. We believe BTC will not even make it to $25K during September.

Read More