BTC

Coronavirus has disrupted a running economy and the fear of loss and life has led to haphazard conditions and fears among investors, businessmen and multinational companies who invest a lot in bitcoins and cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin has been facing tremendous selling pressure due to the fear rising from the corona pandemic affecting globally. The stocks fall and that is leading to an unbalanced condition of the financial sector.

Due to these recent changes and the panic created by the coronavirus disease, there have been a few changes in the stock market of the European economy which is also affecting the US economy directly and in turn globally. Some of the major eye-catching incidents are:

The consequences of coronavirus fear

Prominent European indices like Germany as DAX, France as CAC, and the U.K. as FTSE fell more than 3%, due to this sudden rise of the pressure in selling out bitcoins and assets. There has been a steep decline of the European stocks and the U.S future stocks along with a rise in the worth of the US dollar which is way more than the top cryptocurrency market cap.

Bitcoin is currently trading in the “red zone” which is very alarming. It was near $10,650, down by 2.9% in a day. They have already failed to cross the level of $11,000 earlier. The data and the figures are very alarming for the economy which is actually having a large impact over the global economy.

One important reason for the falling of the equities is the fear of the recent increase of the corona cases” in the European nations which are hitting directly not in their favour. This surging incident is forcing equity holders to sell their portions and in return, Europe is about to hit the surface once again and that is alarming.

The no of corona cases is doubling every single day and if this continues, it will touch around 50,000 cases/day by mid-October. This data is received from British government officials. This certain crisis has changed its way of working again and some European countries like Greece and Denmark have already imposed a lockdown again. If this situation continues, ye European countries will be bound to impose lockdown all over again, resulting in a jolted economy.

This is creating new damage to the European economy in a whole new way in which the intern is risking the whole global economy by unbalancing the American economy.

According to the data sources from Glassnode, recently, 784 BTC which is worth approx $8 million was transferred from miner wallets to exchange wallets. This is quite higher than the
“30-day average” of the daily-outflow of 265 BTC. This movement of the coins to exchanges is done specifically to liquidate the holdings of the miners and investors. There is a possibility of a breakdown, a bearish-pattern is found on the hourly-chart. This might expose the “100-day average support” near $10,400. The falling value of the bitcoin economy has affected the dash for the US dollar which is a global reserve currency.

Since the inception of Bitcoin, it has been a point of debate among users and non-users. With time it has seen the tremendous value increase, yet experts and users await one more increase. It may be seen in the coming days ahead now. Bitcoin is struggling to hold above the $12000 mark, and investors are eagerly waiting for breakthroughs in the markets. However, the good news is that the market cap has crossed $386.4 billion. This level was last seen only in 2018.

There are many reasons for the slow growth in this field. The lack of regulatory guidelines is the main factor stopping big investments from coming into this market. Apart from that, the investor perception about cryptocurrencies, in general, is still not so positive, and this is also leading to a lack of retail participation in the markets.

Experts believe that there will be ups and downs in the price as markets turn volatile due to various reasons. However, there is good potential in the long run. Yet another factor that is stopping the regular retail investors from getting into active trading in cryptocurrencies is the sharp spikes that are regularly seen in this market.

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the governments have issued various stimulus packages, and this has contributed to the decline in dollar value. The US dollar index currently stands at 93.2. The social tensions that arise due to a slow economy have forced the governments to print dollars in order to find temporary solutions. This has forced veteran investors like Warren Buffett to stay away from banking and financial stocks.

Even though the performance of BTC is not up to the expected mark, other cryptocurrencies have had good growth this year. The ETH has grown from $105 to $440 since March, and investors have made a lot of money with this asset. In the same manner, Ripple and Dash are also performing well when compared to other assets in the market.

The future of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies look bright as we are heading into a high inflation market, which can be seen shortly. In this situation, many people will look towards assets that can tackle inflation in the long run. However, access to digital wallets has to be eased in many countries in order to get a large number of retail investors in the future.

Buffett bought gold, so Morgan Creek’s digital co-founder Jason Williams believes that Buffett will surely buy a button, if not him the young employees in his investment farm will surely will. Warren Buffett is the business tycoon and an investor based in America will buy bitcoin shortly, Jason Williams made a tweet about this on Aug 15, 2020. The tweet was in context to the fact that the billionaire Buffett had invested quite large and this made Jason tweet.

Changes in the Portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway

There have been some recent changes in the scenario to the portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway. This change has attracted eye of every investor currently. The changes were noticed because the CEO and chairman of this company is none other than Buffett.

The changes noticed were,

• The firm sold bank stokes
• Airline stocks

This incident was reported by Fortune, where on one hand, they sold the sticks and bought something bycatch they bought from Barrick Gold, a mining company based in Canada. The most amazing thing is, their stock value is correlated to that of gold. The company willingly sold “Goldman Sachs” Stock which resulted in their fall by 61% in the JPMorgan chase. They also sold some of the PNC holdings and Wells Fargo holdings.

According to the market whispering, Buffett is anticipating the increasing loan defaults which are the direct result of the coronavirus pandemic. This is affecting the banks highly, the economy has taken a standstill and is continuously moving downwards. Initially, the step is surprising because Buffett was always negative about the cryptocurrencies but this sudden step, has taken the industrialists aback. He mentioned some time back that, “cryptocurrencies are probably rat poison squared”.

Summary

This is the most unlike Buffett according to every investor and this act surprised Williams, the tweet is the result. Jason Williams made it clear that Buffett might not buy bitcoin but his employees will surely do. Buffett’s actions are important because his investments in gold can push bitcoin’s price to $50,000. If you keep a positive approach towards gold, bitcoin will surely be able to raise its position. The astonishing fact is that bitcoin has been outperforming gold since April. This suddenness of the uprising and Buffett’s actions has left us with various speculations, the most important of which is ” he might be acquiring bitcoin”! 

As per the experts in modern technology, the Blockchain technology is the future technology for technology lovers in various fields. The Blockchain technology is making its presence felt in the music industry as well. The intermediaries have always dominated the music industry, and artists often have to compromise on this factor. However, the streaming platforms are booming in the current scenario, and blockchain technology helps creators come in direct contact with the audience.

How is Blockchain affecting the music industry?

It has the potential to eliminate the intermediaries from the system, and creators can get direct benefits from the sales of music and live streaming of music channels. In this way, artists are able to get a royalty for their work, and this is also becoming a good alternative to piracy. The current situation favors artists who have a good following, and they will continue to earn a major share of revenues from the industry.

On the other hand, the conditions of emerging artists are not so good, and they will hugely benefit from a decentralized system. In this regard, the P2P network for sharing and storing music will help such artists to avoid intermediaries and make good money.

Opus is using IPFS for this purpose, and it has the potential to change the industry in a big way, especially for many emerging artists. Ethereum network is used as a payment layer, and this uses smart contracts to provide royalty to artists. In this way, content distribution becomes easy even for small artists, and they need not have to depend on intermediaries to promote their work.

Artists get up to 90% payment

In this situation, artists are likely to get up to 90% of the earnings, and only a small percentage will go towards the distribution and storage network. This is huge, considering the fact that the conventional system provides very little for the original artists.

Mediachain, eMusic and Musiclife platform

These platforms are trying to change the game by providing independent artists a good share for the money earned from the sale of music. New York based Ujo is providing a decentralized database of ownership for artists, and this can help them earn direct money from the sales of their work.

The US-based Open Music Initiative project is also using Blockchain technology to identify creators’ rights, and they have partnered with Netflix, YouTube, and Soundcloud for the distribution of music.

The paper or metal currency is being replaced by virtual currencies, and more users have started accepting them as per the latest information from the market. However, the trend is yet started and will last for some more years, according to experts in virtual currencies. In a short span the same will be on peak in the market.

Coinbase is zooming in recent months as its user base hits 35 million. It has users in more than 100 countries, and the cryptocurrency exchange is seeing tremendous growth in this year. It is now the third-largest crypto exchange in the world, and the average daily trading volumes exceed $500 million on most days.

Coinbase and its regulatory approach

Unlike other cryptocurrency exchanges, Coinbase is known for its stringent regulatory norms, and some users have even criticized the company for this strategy. However, this strategy has worked in favor of Coinbase over the years as new users feel confident about investing in such exchanges. This year alone, it has added over 5 million new users, and this is good growth considering the fact that the global economy is not in good shape due to the pandemic.

Demand coming from institutional investors

The advantage of Coinbase is that it has a good blend of retail as well as institutional investors. The demand from institutional investors in recent years has been very encouraging for the company. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to haunt the global economy, more and more institutional investors are looking at alternate options, and the crypto industry is gaining a lot in this situation.

Acquisitions of Coinbase

Coinbase is also going aggressive with its approach, and it has recently acquired Tagomi, which is one of the leading brokerage institutions in the crypto industry. It was earlier rumored that Coinbase had offered $150 million to acquire Tagomi. However, company officials discarded such rumors even though they did not disclose the exact figure of purchase.

Considering the growth of Coinbase, it is not surprising to see that more and more investors are getting attracted towards this exchange. There are rumors that the company is planning an IPO issue this year. If this happens, it can further stabilize the base of the exchange in the industry. This will be the first big company to enter into the public market in recent years, and it can set the trend for many such IPOs in the near future.

Anyone who’s into cryptocurrency, stock market, banking, and investing has probably heard of the term ‘blockchain’. So, what’s this technology that is called blockchain? Why is it used for storing various kinds of digital information?

If you go by its literary meaning, the word ‘blockchain’ is made of two words, ‘block’ and ‘chain’. So its meaning could be derived as a chain of blocks. But, there’s more to the blockchain network. It is a technology that serves as a database used to store several types of digital information. Each ‘block’ contains information and has specifically three parts-

1. It stores details such as date, amount, and time of the transaction. For example, your recent transaction from eBay also gets recorded in such a ledger.
2. Blocks also store details about the participants in a transaction. So the block that records your transactions on eBay will also record your name and the name of the website, i.e., eBay. But instead of using your name, the block uses a distinctive ‘digital signature,’. It is kind of like a ‘digital ID.’
3. Now, each block is different from any other block. And, what differentiates a block from another is a unique code known as ‘hash’. These are cryptographic instructions or codes, developed by complex, specialized algorithms. So, even if you make a similar transaction with the same details, each block can be differentiated since each transaction’s hash is different.

While it might look like, in the above points that a block can only store one transaction, but in reality, a block can store digital information up to 1 Mb. It means that the details of thousands of transactions can be stored in one block. 

Hash

When we talk about a block storing information, it must also be known that the block has a certain hash assigned to it. A hash is a unique code consisting of numbers and letters that are generated by the block. The basic functioning of a hash involves taking a variable number of characters and converting it into a set of constant characters. So, even a change that might appear to be negligible creates a new hash. 

Also, every hash in a blockchain is similar to the hash of the previous block. So, to tamper with the hash of a block, the hashes of all the previous blocks have to be changed. After the block has been hashed, it gets added to the blockchain. Now, every block that is added to the blockchain is in the public domain, and anyone can choose to view it.

Nonce

‘Nonce’ or ‘a number only used once’ is a number that is used after the hash of a block. Its function, primarily, is to secure a block. If a blockchain miner wishes to solve a hash, this is the number they must discover. It is not easy to find and identify nonce, and this is why they get added to each encrypted hash, to eliminate the competition of less-talented blockchain miners.

Nodes

Nodes or master nodes are computers that ensure the privacy and validity of any transaction. So, whenever a transaction takes place, it has to be approved by all nodes involved. After each of the nodes has verified the transaction’s validity, there’s a virtual ‘electronic vote’ between the nodes. The validity of the transaction is decided in such a vote.

Every node contains a copy of the blockchain. If the majority of the nodes that are checking the validity of a transaction approve it as original and valid, it gets added to the ledger or blockchain. It ensures a blockchain’s safety, security, and privacy as the nodes would not let any fraud or fake code enter the blockchain network.

Summarizing Blockchain

• A block is a spreadsheet that contains digital information regarding transactions. A Blockchain is a family of such ‘blocks’. 
• Each block can store a fixed number of approved transactions. Once this number is attained, no more transactions can be stored in the block, and a new block is developed. 
• The blockchain technology is in-built with a sophisticated algorithm that updates the system every ten minutes. 
• Once the blockchain or the distributed ledger has been updated, you cannot tamper with the data stored in it. You can only new blocks with new data.
• The ledger or spreadsheet gets updated on every network and computer.
• Each block in a blockchain generates a hash that is a code unique to the block. 
• Hash contains a fixed number of symbols and characters. 
• Transactions are added in chronological order in a blockchain. 
• The hash depends on the hash of the previous block.
• Nodes are computers that verify and validate each transaction. It secures each block and ensures privacy. 
• A blockchain network updates itself on every system in the 10-minute period. 

Pulsating Web Series of South Korea

South Korea plans to air its first-ever crypto-related TV series in October 2020. This crypto themed series will be broadcasted in the drama genre and aspires to gain immense popularity because of the thrill and excitement embedded script and storyboarding, direction, and acting.

A K-Drama Series with Romantic Flavour

A Korean Drama or K-Drama series titled “Romantic Hacker” is all ready to stir the South Korea media space in October, this year. It will be a web-based series, based on crypto and blockchain-centric subjects, linked to a sweet romantic story. Infused with love and drama, this thriller TV series will entice and attract an audience of all kinds and is expected to be an epic blockbuster of the K-Drama series. The story will showcase the drudge of a crypto trading portal known as the Jeju International Crypto Exchange. The lead actor will combat a group of highly expert hackers that effort to snip the cash from the exchange.

Cast and Crew

A well-known talent agency is responsible for bringing actors and actresses on board for the series. The superbly talented and popular K-pop star Kwon Hyun-bin will be seen in the series as the male lead character, ‘Jaemin.’ He will contest the gang of fraudsters and expose the chain of fraudulent transactions of cryptocurrencies. This is an action-packed drama, with romantic and comedy elements in bits and pieces. As a whole, the web series will make up for a fascinating recreation and entertainment stuff for all. Kwon has a tremendous fan following, and the agency has hired Kwon very intelligently to assure the admiration and adoration of a sprawling young fan base. Kwon Hyun-bin is also well known for being a supermodel and a talented actor. His filmographic trajectory specifies that Kwon had acted in three leading TV series, such as JTBC’s ‘Don’t Let Go of Your Mind’ and Netflix’s ‘Part-Time Idol’. Before signing as a lead actor in “Romantic Hacker”. Those who had already seen these series are well aware of his acting skills, dialogue delivery, and confidence. Other important actors are Viini. Jae Min, Jo Hyun Young. Hye Soo and I are Na Young. Joo Hee.

Romantic Hacker is designated as the first-ever crypto-themed web series, to be aired in South Korea. People have gathered a lot of expectations towards this action-romantic comedy and can’t wait to enjoy this in October.

Music enthusiasts and passionate patrons back up and support all kinds of music genres and support and back up the budding and vintage artists and musicians to keep up their talent and expertise. They act as lifelong patrons and help a lot to keep up the music genre alive and flourishing universally. However, a realistic and constructive survey has displayed that many music patrons and buffs use cryptocurrency to support music and musicians.

The Survey by eMusic Store

eMusic was launched in 1998 and is globally known for being one of the pioneer websites to sell DRM-free MP3 music recordings. A survey executed by the pioneering digital music store eMusic displayed that most of their patrons and customers were in agreement paying with crypto if it permitted artists, performers, and musicians to earn more. The survey results also showcased that 65% of eMusic clienteles would use cryptocurrency if it was for the betterment and motivation of the musicians. It is important to note that a meagre 8% of the target audience had used Bitcoin or any other crypto in previous times. The Survey also displayed that about 65% of eMusic patrons would use cryptocurrency if those permit musicians to receive a promising music revenue portion.

Survey data analysed by eMusic revealed that approximately 40% of music enthusiasts overrate the number of royalties that musicians receive when their music is bought or telecasted. Nearly 87% assumed that a “decent and impartial share for the performers would be a higher value, with the most popular reply being a perfectly half divide between the marketing company and the artists.

The survey report published in May by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry exhibited that music streaming enhanced music profits to over $20 billion in 2019. Still, an analytical breakdown by Soundcharts, the popular music news website, evaluates that artists are paid only $0.00318 per streaming session. 

The Role of eMusic in Providing a Fair Platform

The pioneering eMusic is raising a devolved music distribution arrangement to lessen the cost of ineptitudes and link the performer’s pay with their music purchase. Which means, more their fans and patrons purchase and stream their music; higher is their royalty. This gives them a fair and unbiased podium to showcase their talent and earn unswervingly from it.

The idea of offering an impartial and fair-minded platform to all musicians have helped eMusic to earn a lot of accolades, respect, and acclamation from the various music niches. It is indeed a great platform to motivate musicians and rejoice their exceptional talents.

For those who use PayPal, there is one more good news as this platform has also entered the segment of Virtual currency which is the Bitcoin System. PayPal is all set to get into the crypto trading platform through its partnership with Paxos. This is great news for cryptocurrency supporters as it will provide a good platform for them to trade Bitcoin and other currencies. Paxos is a stable coin operator, and it offers brokerage service. PayPal will now use this platform to push crypto trading. Hence it will gain some more users on its platform then the present user base.

Paxos launches crypto brokerage

With this move, Paxos will enable other entities to integrate the trading options for cryptocurrencies. The new service will be used by PayPal to provide crypto trading facilities for its users across the world which will facilitate many users. It will help both entities as PayPal will get to add new services for its growing customer base, and Paxos will also get the brand association of PayPal. In this way, it can boost the overall growth in the cryptocurrency market.

PayPal’s association with the digital currency market

PayPal is actively involved in the cryptocurrency market in recent months, and it has also hired various experts to develop cryptocurrency capabilities within the organization. It was initially not so keen on this platform as it can contradict its original business. But after seeing the huge demand in the digital currency segment, they have taken the plunge into this market. It was an earlier member of the Libra Association which was planning to introduce stablecoin through Facebook. However, it did not go down well with regulators, and PayPal had to step back from the association in 2019.

After this, PayPal has started to work on its own platform where it can provide cryptocurrency trading options, and this new partnership with Paxos will only be a big boost for this cause. This is good news for PayPal users as they will not get to use cryptocurrencies along with the regular payments, and this will be very useful for international transactions. There is no need to use the regular currencies when you can easily process various transactions at lesser fees. The charges for processing cryptocurrencies are far lesser than the regular currencies in most cases, and users will prefer Bitcoin and other currencies while dealing with international transactions.

Finance is a world full of ups and downs. For every penny earned, there is always the risk of losing five more of them. Now, finance has had a drastic facelift with the introduction of Crypto-currency. Altcoins like bitcoin cash and Ethereum have entered the game and are playing well. Innovative technology like blockchain and peer to peer transparent networks have brought a newer and stronger level of security. But the problems such as price volatility and value fluctuation become major issues. And the worst happens when greed and human error mix to produce disastrous outcomes. Such a case has come into the eye of the media where a fraudster has duped its clients of 7 million dollars in crypto-currency.

Details of the case

The deed was done by one crypto-currency based firm. He operated phony monetary exchange services. The firm was responsible for duping its clients of millions of dollars (seven million dollars to be exact). Two of their unfortunate customers found themselves in these crypto tangles, which have sued the firm. The accused is going to plead guilty and is looking at years of prison time. The firm is said to accept a plea deal that is going to be carried out in September of the year 2020. The prosecutors are looking to finalize and implement proceedings on this date.

The prosecution letter indicated that the disposition of the case is sought by both parties, and the request for a decision date in the next two months of this year has been sent to the courthouse. The last update by the accused’s lawyer has assured that all groups involved have substantially gravitated towards a mutually agreed upon disposition.

Counts of fraud

The conman was arrested in early September of 2019. The financial services provided through his company have been embroiled in four cases of dishonesty claims related in its crypto-currency dealings. The allegations entailed that Thompson had acquired three million dollars by a client to purchase bitcoin cash and had wired the sum to a separate middle-man without receiving the crypto-currency beforehand. This had apparently resulted in the accused losing the money, which had started the whole conflict.

This action was repeated by the accused when he again acquired four million dollars from another firm by lying about the previous transactions. These four million dollars was again given to another middle-man with the client’s intent to exchange it for bitcoins. But the funds were lost similarly to the previous transaction.

All these shady businesses had accumulated two claims of illegal finance practices, which each entails ten years of prison time while also committing two claims of illegal monetary transfer. These two additional counts each cause two score years of prison time.

The accused thus faces more than fifty years of incarceration but presently has been released on bail of five hundred thousand dollars after being arrested in Pennsylvania.

The official financial claims department has charged the accused’s company for the frauds committed. An Irish firm by the name of Symphony FS has also filed a separate lawsuit against Thompson, who had given him the second four million dollars that had been duped.

Crypto-currency has been a new avenue full of possibilities and opportunities to blaze the finance industry with the new light of security and safe investments. Exceptions like this should not be the reason to lose hope. The Crypto-currency industry is set to be the next big thing in various spheres of business and services. As with any such ventures, serious steps should be taken in caution, and investments should be made carefully.