Ethereum, which was launched in 2015, is the second largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin in terms of market capitalization. It was trading sideways for two years, at around $ 10, until 2017. That was the year of the “Gold Rush” for cryptocurrencies, and the ETH price started to increase in March. The ETH/USD had jumped to $ 50 by the end of that month, which meant a 500% increase. That was a sign that the market was changing, and a wave of buying was coming. We saw a retrace in July and September, but that year turned out to be extraordinary for digital currencies overall.

The double top pattern points to $ 650 for Ethereum

Ethereum surged to $ 1,425 by January 2018 and closed at $ 1,120. 2018 turned out to be the opposite of the previous year, as the Gold Rush ended and the crypto market started reversing back down. Although, that wasn’t a big surprise, given the extraordinary and sudden surge in 2017. The decline in 2018 was also quite straightforward, with 8 bearish monthly candlesticks. In the first half of 2019 and in January this year, buyers have tried to reverse the price higher, but they were short-lived both times, showing that the pressure remained to the downside for Ethereum, as highs were getting lower. We saw another attempt to the downside in March, when the coronavirus broke out in Europe, turning traders to the USD. But the support below $ 100 held once again, and since April, Ethereum has been increasing, getting pretty close to $ 500 in September.

With the two attempts at $ 80 to $ 90, and the consecutive failures to break below that level, we can see that a double bottom pattern has formed in the ETH/USD. The high in June last year came at $ 370, so the target from the top should be as big as the distance between the bottom and the top. That means that Ethereum should increase another $ 280 above $ 370, to $ 650, if the double bottom pattern is to work out. The price has moved above June’s high now, which was the high point of this pattern. That validates the pattern, so $ 650 is really the target now, and our Ethereum price prediction from the monthly chart analysis points to this level.

Ethereum Analysis Off the Weekly Chart – Third Time Lucky?

On the weekly chart, the price was finding solid support at the 20 SMA (gray) during the uptrend in 2017. Ethereum formed a resistance zone around $ 400, and buyers were finding it hard to push above that level. But the 20 SMA kept pushing the price higher, and eventually the resistance at 400 was broken. This level was quite important for Ethereum, since it turned into the ultimate support and resistance zone, as we will see further below in this Ethereum price prediction.

The next bullish leg should start soon

As we know, the ETH/USD surged to $ 425, where it remained until December that year, but then the reversal came and the price crashed lower. The 20 SMA held in the first attempt in the second week of February, despite being pierced, but it was eventually broken. However, the previous resistance zone at around $ 400 turned into support this time, and after a small doji candlestick above that level, we saw a retrace higher to $ 840. The price pushed above the 20 SMA briefly, but then reversed down and fell below all moving averages, until it reached $ 80 at the end of 2018. As we mentioned above, the ETH price increased during H1 of 2019, but the area around $ 400 turned into resistance again, with a bit of help from the 100 SMA (green). The price formed a doji here, which is a bearish reversing signal after the retrace higher, at which point the price turned lower.

The second upward retrace took place during Q4 of 2019, as the sentiment for cryptocurrencies improved, but the retrace ended after a doji candlestick at the top once again, just below $ 300. This time, the 200 SMA (purple) provided resistance. Both times, the stochastic indicator was oversold, also indicating a reversal down. This time though, the bullish move since the middle of March doesn’t look like a retrace. The price has moved above the $ 400 level and moving averages are now turning into support, suggesting that the pressure has turned to the upside for Ethereum. In the last few weeks, we have seen a consolidation at around $ 400, but the stochastic indicator is approaching the oversold area, and the moving averages are getting closer, so the Ethereum analysis tells us that the next bullish leg is expected in Ethereum soon, although it will also depend on the sentiment in the crypto market.

Ethereum Analysis Off the Daily Chart – Buyers are Back in Control

There’s a lot more noise on the daily time-frame chart and the volatility looks much higher in lower time-frame charts, although they still show the market behavior, and we can spot the trends. During 2019, the ETH price was trading in a range, which showed consolidation, although the bias was bearish, as highs were getting lower, but at least we were not seeing any new lows. Moving averages lost significance, as they were broken many times, but they helped indicate buying or selling opportunities, as the price was moving up or down in this consolidation period.

Ethereum is trying to break the 20 and 50 SMAs now

But now, it seems like the consolidation period has ended and buyers have come back onto the scene. The crash from the initial coronavirus panic ended pretty quickly and the price reversed higher, surging more than $ 150 until June, then a consolidation period followed. The bullish momentum retumed, lasting until September 1, taking the ETH price to $ 485, while now, according to the Elliott Wave Pattern, we are in another pullback/consolidation period, before the next bullish leg starts.

During the bullish move of the last few months, the 50 SMA (yellow) did a good job as support, pushing the price higher, and the 20 SMA also helped occasionally on the daily chart. The involvement of smaller moving averages, as support indicators, shows that the pace of the bullish trend was quite strong. So, the third bullish leg should start soon, and it might have already started, but the 20 and 50 SMAs are standing on top now, and they rejected the price initially. However, the price turned back to them pretty quickly, indicating buying pressure, so it will only be a matter of time before these moving averages break. Therefore, the price action in this time-frame also points up and the Ethereum analysis from this time-frame is $ 650 for several months ahead.

Crypto started off with a bang, but later in March, just like many other sectors, it started to fluctuate because of the COVID-19 crisis. Many skeptics expected Bitcoin to drop and for the pandemic to mark the beginning of the end for crypto, but things didn’t go that way. In fact. The drop of cryptocurrency and the drop of the stock market were only correlated for a short while, and Bitcoin’s drop was mainly a liquidity issue because, like gold, it was oversold. In reality, crypto made a quick recovery and even consolidated its role in the “new normal.” Experts estimate that COVID-19 will only normalize crypto payments and that, though unfortunate, it will accelerate the digital revolution. So far, 2020 was a good year for cryptocurrency, and we saw the advent of some exciting trends that will shape the market going forward.

Widespread adoption by institutional investors is by far the most notable one – banks are beginning to accept digital currencies and running pilots on wholesale payment systems. This year, six major central banks (England, Canada, Sweden, Japan, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of International Settlements) have joined a joint initiative to research the potential of cryptocurrencies. Apart from this major movement, other trends that stand out in 2020 include:

The cashless transition

The world was bound to become cashless eventually, but digital crypto payments could become the norm sooner than we think. To limit the spread of the novel Coronavirus, the World Health Organization recommended people to make contactless payments instead of cash payments, and concerns about hygiene were a pretty persuasive driver, even for skeptics. If we look at the official stats, we’ll see that the number of Blockchain wallets has been growing consistently, reaching over 50 million users at the end of June 2020, compared to 47% at the end of March. What was quite rare before the pandemic now becomes more acceptable among mainstream users, and the fact that institutions now encourage cryptocurrency made it obvious that this is not just another passing trend.

The cashless transition was also sped up by the fact that now more stores accept bitcoin as a valid payment method. During the pandemic, online retail experienced a massive boom, especially in categories such as groceries, electronics, and personal hygiene. At the same time, games and streaming services grew in popularity, and, as a result, crypto payments increased on their websites too. Even after the pandemic is over, most users who got used to crypto payments will likely continue to use them, and this will push more retailers to consider implementation.

Crypto Forex trading

For many years now, the worlds of traditional and alternative trading were separate. Either you traded Forex, or you traded crypto. The differences in mentality were also quite different: people who traded traditional currencies tended to be more conservative and risk-averse, while the ones who traded crypto were younger and more likely to invest in innovative technologies. Now, however, with crypto becoming a bigger part of the world of finance, Forex and crypto trading are no longer that far apart.

Many Forex brokers now allow account funding with Bitcoin and major cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Tether, Litecoin, Dashcoin usually in combination with fiat currencies. So, instead of training in pairs like EUR/USD or GBP/USD, you can now trade pairs like BTC/USD or LTC/USD. This has added a new dimension to currency trading, and more and more people are beginning to use their digital currencies on the Forex market. Among the biggest benefits of trading Forex with Bitcoin is that digital currencies are decentralized, so they aren’t influenced by inflation and interest rates. In addition, Forex brokers usually offer high leverage to crypto traders, which is a big plus for veterans. Other reasons why more people have started to trade pairs like BTC/USD include:

• Lower costs of trading and low deposit amounts: this is especially tempting for beginners
• Financial security: when trading crypto, you don’t need to reveal your bank account
• More freedom: when trading crypto you have fewer geographical boundaries than when you are trading fiat currencies

Of course, like regular trading, crypto Forex trading involves a certain degree of risk too, especially for beginners, but the fact that so many people have decided to try it goes to show that cryptocurrencies have had a major impact on the trading world.

Interfaces that appeal to mainstream users

In its early days, cryptocurrency was a niche investment for a certain “geeky” market. The people who had bought Bitcoins were the people who mined them themselves, knew someone who did, or liked investing in anything new, tech-related, that showed promise.

Over the years, crypto has slowly transitioned from being a niche investment to a less obscure one, and, in 2020, it has almost become mainstream. If they don’t own crypto themselves, people know someone who does, and how digital currencies work in general. To appeal to this growing mass of mainstream users, crypto services have made interfaces more appealing and easier to use, so that you don’t need to mine Bitcoin or be a crypto expert to get around them.

The rise of decentralized finance (DeFi)

Although cryptocurrencies are thought to be the highlight, decentralized finance (DeFi) has been picking up steam since the end of 2019, and in 2020 it reached new heights. In the past month alone, the total value locked in DeFi surpassed $4 billion. Generally based on Ethereum, decentralized finance consists of a wide range of financial services (lending apps, dex platforms, derivatives, stablecoins, etc.) that do not rely on a central authority.

DeFi applications have a flexible user experience and, in general, they aim to be simpler alternatives to traditional financial services, because there are no gatekeepers. For example, loans can be negotiated directly between two parties from different parts of the world, without a bank having to intervene. Other applications of DeFi apps include exchanging assets and implementing advanced trading strategies.

In the face of necessary change, bitcoin and blockchain could reasonably supply the much-needed compromise between what is, and what could be.

In the wake of current events, the majority of the global population has been given a choice. A chance to reset many of the systems that have been irrefutably shown to fail. While it’s not necessary to fully condemn present systems of governance, finance, and social constructs- it is important to accept their failings and ask for something better.

Given the unprecedented glimpse into the more intimate and intricate shortcomings of existing systems, we have also been shown an idea of best practice moving forward. As countries and their individual populations have banded together in both macro and micro scales of economy and society, we have been shown that working together seamlessly can produce favorable results. While it may sound trite- we’ve been shown that teamwork does indeed make the dream work.

In light of the novel coronavirus, we’ve been shown that those countries that have worked closely with their own citizens and the citizens of the world at large have fared best- while others that have shut themselves off to both the failings and triumphs of others have seen near total devastation. Particularly in the latter, we’ve seen a surge of new users and renewed interest in cryptocurrencies. As new users flock to exchange platforms like Bitvavo, hoping for a helping hand in understanding an alternative for the economies that are failing them. While seasoned investors continue to proselytize the brilliance of decentralized finance.

Failings of a Legacy System

Perhaps the biggest problem with the legacy financial system is how prone it is to manipulation. From lending bias to inflationary practices, our current financial system is clearly broken. Much of this manipulative practice comes from the idea of centralization. They will always be a human element behind any decisions made in our current financial system, and humans are… well, human. They’re prone to error, greed, and emotional bias.

Building a system of finance based on an individual human ethos is bound to spell disaster to someone. Discriminatory practices based on income, race, religion, or any number of other factors happen every day, even if we don’t actually intend them to. As each person has inherent bias, it’s nearly impossible for us to be purely objective.  This is where cryptocurrencies like bitcoin step in. These digital tokens, coupled with DeFi systems can realistically create a beneficial parallel to the system we currently have. Mimicking many of the processes that fit nicely, but completely removing the human element, opting for something far more objective.

Something Borrowed, Something New

Coupling computer technology with existing structures could be a way to efficiently transition into a decentralized, digital, cashless society. While the term may raise hairs for some, cashless is coming- whether we want it to or not. Largely, those in opposition to the idea, are really opposed to centralized power structures; and in our opinion, rightly so.

The idea of a centralized cashless society does indeed come with a fierce amount of overarching governmental control, with many left behind. Among those being the unbanked, underfunded, and largely forgotten members of our respective societies that already feel the alienating pressure of our monetary systems. Centralized cashless would only serve to bolster those positions.

Despite a decentralized financial network seeming like the optimum compromise between what we have now, and what we need for the future- it may not be so simple to implement. There is still concern that decentralized networks can shift towards more centralized paradigms should key players interact irresponsibly. Think of the whales of bitcoin, and the influence they’ve been said to have. Or consider the bitcoin mining process, in which the majority of mining practitioners could realistically be held by one or two large conglomerates, essentially dissolving a decentralized structure.

While both bitcoin and other cryptocurrency networks, and the DeFi systems that are currently being built are doing everything within their ability to create systems that are free from centralized influence, it’s still a difficult balance to maintain. Should one or two large stake holders decide to irresponsibly weird power, the decentralized infrastructure could topple. In order to endure a truly decentralized system, it has to be something built with ubiquitous adoption and support.

Securing a New Ethos in a Familiar System

This total support starts with an appreciation and support for decentralized networks. Something that is a common and base goal among all investors, operators, and service providers. Just as investors of all creeds and income brackets will require equal opportunity to buy in, network operators will have to ensure that there are a wide range of open source participatory and regulatory systems. Meaning that every investor holds the same amount of sway over how the network itself operates.

These systems are in existence today, and are continuing to be built and refined. Security and participation tactics are something that are constantly being scrutinized and cultivated to provide a better working system for all. Service providers must also help ensure this purely democratic infrastructure, either by integrating more AI and cryptographic technologies, or opening up their own network structures to the user supported functionality. DApps and Smart Contracts are excellent adjuncts to centralized power structures.

In reality, many of the necessary technologies needed to support a democratically decentralized financial network already exist. Ensure their longevity, accessibility, and security are aspects that are constantly being considered. With a continued curiosity and support for a decentralized global network of finance, we can build ourselves a better future- one that is controlled not by the few, but by all.

With Upfiring 1.2.2, seamless decentralized P2P file-sharing is now possible on the Ethereum blockchain. With our product ready for user adoption, the project’s focus will be shifting towards towards community growth and marketing for the second half of 2020.

Upfiring 1.2.2 Release — August 24th, 2020

Upfiring 1.2.2 has been deployed and is available for download on upfiring.com. This update fixes an important connection issue that will improve the dapp’s ability to discover and connect to other peers/seeders on the network. Upfiring 1.2.2’s release will ensure the dapp is ready for a growing userbase of downloaders and seeders in the coming weeks. Existing Upfiring dapp users will be prompted on application launch to update their application, or they can navigate to the “Settings” tab and click “Check for updates”, as seen below.

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Important Link Updates:

• ufr.exchange now allows you quick access to the UFR-ETH market on Uniswap
• ufr.chat links to our forums, which have been relaunched and will be further updated this week
• upfiring.com homepage will be updated this week with new links/information as well

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Marketing

• Dapp Stress Tests
• Upcoming AMAS
• Influencer Marketing
• The Upfiring Blog, Press Releases, & SEO campaign
• Expansion of the Upfiring Dapp Documentation
• File-Sharing website outreach
• Community-run marketing group and community contributions
• Paid advertisements

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EVENTS

Upfiring Dapp Stress Tests (3)

The Upfiring Stress tests will evaluate Upfiring’s ability to support files with large numbers of seeders and properly distribute UFR between all active seeders on a file. It will also test out the networks capability to have many files decrypted in a short period of time. There will be 3 major stress tests in the coming months. Note: The amount of UFR offered during these events is subject to change if the UFR price fluctuates significantly. In addition, pending the results of each of these stress tests, the dates are subject to change as well.

Stress Test 1: 500 UFR Total — Sunday, September 20th, 2020 at 5 PM EST

• 5 .ufr files, each worth 100 UFR, will be created by our team and distributed via our social media pages one week prior to the stress test (September 13th to September 20th)
• We will decrypt the files one by one, rewarding all participating seeders with a share of the UFR equal to 100/# of seeders for each file

Stress Test 2: 2,000 UFR Total — Sunday, October 4th, 2020 at 5 PM EST

• The results of Stress Test 1 will be analyzed and the procedure of Stress Test 2 may be adjusted if necessary
• 10 .ufr files, each worth 150–250 UFR, will be created by our team and distributed via our social media pages one week prior to the stress test (September 27th to October 4th)
• Files will be decrypted as with Stress Test 1

Stress Test 3: 5,000 UFR Total — Sunday, October 18th, 2020 at 5 PM EST

• 50 .ufr files, each worth 50–150 UFR, will be created by our team and distributed via our social media pages one week prior to the stress test (October 11th to October 18th)

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Upfiring’s Upcoming AMAS (Ask-Me-Anything) & Appearances

In an effort to expand the size of our community and introduce new users to Upfiring, we have been working with closely with several Telegram groups, Youtubers, Discord groups, and influencers to plan several major events for this project. The following groups will have AMAs for Upfiring in the coming weeks. Any TBD dates will be announced via our social media when they are set:

• GosuTV, Korean audience — set for Wednesday, September 9th at 9 PM EST
• TheGemHunters, a 2500+ Telegram group — set for Sunday, September 20th at 2 PM EST
• @cryptowindonesia, an Indonesian audience of over 7500+ people, translator will be used — date pending

In addition, we plan to appear on several Influencer’s Channels in September and October including:

• CryptoWendy (date set)
• Several other major appearances are set, and we cannot disclose them until the air date!

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The Upfiring Blog, Press Releases, and SEO campaign

SEO is one of the primary ways people discover new and growing projects. Upfiring will begin an SEO campaign that will focus on increasing the overall quantity of content released on our website and improving upon the quality/scope of that content. This will help to create an influx of new members in our community.

The Upfiring Blog, to be located as a subset of the upfiring.com website, will be a major contributor to the growth and promotion of Upfiring. We will be publishing content dealing with issues surrounding file-sharing, file storage, decentralization, and various other relevant topics to our project.

In addition, the dapp’s documentation will be improved to include more important information for new users, such as several potential use cases for Upfiring and how to maximize usage and earnings as a content creator.

File-Sharing Website Outreach

Because the Upfiring application does not allow the direct sharing of files within the dapp, external file-sharing websites are absolutely critical to the success of this project. There are several Upfiring file-sharing websites in existence right now. In order to help these sites grow, we will be working with the developers to provide key information from our source code that will allow new and existing websites to easily analyze the metadata of .ufr files, number of seeders on a file, and other key information as well.

We will also be spending time over the next few weeks reaching out to existing file-sharing websites to help them integrate .ufr files into their sites.

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Community-run marketing groups and community contributions

Upfiring needs the help of the community in order to reach its full potential. We have one of the most decentralized Ethereum projects in the space — with our team owning an extremely small portion of the token supply relative to other projects, and having little to no control over the Upfiring smart contracts/dapp activity now that they are deployed. Our team does not profit off of the application. As such, it is imperative that the community step in and help this project grow. There are already several community-run Upfiring marketing groups floating around on Discord, Telegram, and elsewhere, and these groups have already helped immensely with the start of our marketiing campaign. If you believe in our cause and want to see the widespread decentralization of content distribution, we encourage community members to take action wherever they can. If you are interested in helping with marketing activities, you can post in our Telegram group or PM @tylerfallon on Telegram for more information.

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Development

The dapp’s development will be discussed in further detail in future posts, but several important features are in the planning stages right now:

Upfiring Dapp Uniswap Integration

Funding your Upfiring wallet, obtaining UFR to use within the dapp, or converting your UFR earnings to Ethereum/other tokens is going to become a smooth experience that users will be able to do using their Upfiring wallet in the dapp. In another effort to further decentralize the dapp and remove the power that centralized exchanges have over this project, Uniswap (a decentralized exchange) will be integrated directly into the dapp. This is another huge step towards the immutability of the Upfiring network — if the Uniswap.org website goes down for any reason, you will still be able to use the smart contracts within the Upfiring dapp to convert to and from UFR with 100% uptime.

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The Upfiring Blockchain — moving to our own smart contract network with a bridge to the Ethereum network

The pre-development phase of the Upfiring blockchain has begun. Currently, we are discussing the feasibility of creating a dual-network link within the dapp that will allow for payment to be made in UFR from the new Upfiring blockchain OR on the Ethereum network via ERC20 token (as it is now). A bridge will be created that will allow users to swap between the ERC20 token and mainnet coin at with a 1:1 ratio, ensuring a fixed supply of tokens and a consistent price between the two. This will also allow us to maintain our exchange listings on important, high-volume exchanges like Uniswap.org and IDEX while creating a customizable mainnet that is not limited by issues that we’ve seen on the Ethereum network, such as high fees and congestion.

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Upfiring Web Browser Dapp

Another huge development we are currently working on that will make Upfiring more widely available to users in the space is a direct integration into Google Chrome so that Upfiring and it’s functionality may be accessed directly via website, and file download/decryption can be performed with tools like Metamask.

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This is an exciting time for this project. We have a ton of events planned in the coming months and would love to have you, the reader, join our communities and be a part of our project’s growth. You can get UFR on Uniswap here. Check out our social media pages: Telegram, Upfiring Forums, Reddit, Twitter, Bitcointalk, and Discord as we continue our mission to change the future of P2P file-sharing.

This year is proving to be quite fruitful for cryptocurrency HODLers. The king of crypto, Bitcoin, rose 3x from around $4,000 to just over $12,000 recently. Many of the altcoins have followed. 

The current question on many cryptocurrency enthusiasts mind’s is…which coin to invest in now?

2020 is proving to be a remarkable year for assets. Gold hit all time highs, so did the NASDAQ, and even Bitcoin looks poised to make a run for its all time high of $20,000. 

What are the criteria to look for when choosing the three best cryptocurrency to buy now in 2020 that could skyrocket?

Spot a Skyrocketing Crypto by Keeping Up With the News

Knowledge is always the first and best tool when it comes to spotting the next rocket ship in the crypto game. 

Find a solid crypto news source and stick to it daily, even multiple times daily, if you have the time. 

If you can catch crypto news on small sites before it hits bigger sites — then you’ll be able to stay a step ahead and board the rocket ship before it launches. 

Spot a Skyrocketing Crypto by Trying Their Project

The projects which earn the most money are the ones which provide the most value to their customers. 

The wild days of the ICO — when companies could make incredible money simply by making big, bold promises — are over. These days users in the cryptocurrency space are much more savvy and knowledgeable. They want to see working products, traction, and happy user reviews.

You can be sure that a company which delivers quality products will be one with a bright future. 

The best way to spot that is to try to be a customer yourself. 

The cryptocurrency Beam springs to mind. Since their launch they’ve focused on rolling out updates to their blockchain, software, and wallets. All this to help their users regain their financial privacy and keep control over their keys and funds. 

Spot a Skyrocketing Crypto by Reading About Their Innovations. 

A project and coin doesn’t need to only give products and value to their direct customers. They can also be delivering value for the community as a whole.

Enjin is a company that has been developing video games since before bitcoin even existed. When they discovered Ethereum and the capabilities of the blockchain, they incorporated those abilities into their work. 

They’re the ones pioneering and championing the ERC-1155 smart contract — which is a contract with the ability to provide better smart contract functions for collectible items. An article explains it like this:

“While ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens required a new smart contract deployed for each new “class” of token, the core concept behind ERC-1155 is that a single smart contract can govern an infinite number of tokens.

Think of this like a vending machine that holds a wide variety of soda, juices, and even snacks. A customer interacts with the machine using a single secure interface (inserting a coin, pressing a button), and the machine dispenses the goodies they have selected. In the same way, an ERC-1155 contract made for a game could contain a wide variety of items, from weapons and armor to health potions, magic scrolls, and more.

Each of these items could be “fungible,” having more than one copy available. Fungible tokens are used for divisible currencies (most ERC-20 tokens), and they’re also very useful for stackable items that don’t need to be differentiated, like a bundle of arrows for a bow.“

These types of innovations help the whole ecosystem. This type of help drives up the price of the cryptocurrency native to the company as well as the prices of the coins which are also part of the ecosystem. 

Never Forget the King of Crypto

In the end, if you want to buy a cryptocurrency in 2020 that might skyrocket — you might not need to go any further than Bitcoin itself. 

The famous Stock-to-Flow model for Bitcoin is predicting a shot at $100,000 in the future. 

If you’re not experienced in trading other altcoins or simply don’t want to risk your funds on their projects — then putting a little bit into Bitcoin might be the way to go. 

Of course, as with all of these cryptocurrencies, never spend more than you’re afraid to lose….not only because you might lose all your money, but also because if you’re emotionally tied to your crypto then you might sell too early or buy/re-buy too late. 

Just like it was said at the start of this article — arm yourself with knowledge. Read more about these cryptocurrencies and many others. Then you can decide how much you want to spend and where to put it so that you can gain the most from the combination of your risk appetite and your circumstances. 

PumaPay CEO, Yoav Dror, said: “By providing innovative and much-needed developments ready to be utilized in the emerging crypto space, we bring the co

Huobi Futures to launch Bitcoin Options Trading in Q3 of 2020. 

Following the successful launch of Perpetual Swaps in Q2 of this year, Huobi Futures now has its sights on a Q3 launch for its Bitcoin Options.

Bitcoin Options are a form of financial derivatives that provide traders with the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell Bitcoin at a specific price at a certain date of expiry.

Alpha testing is already in full swing as the Huobi team looks to iron out and streamline the Options trading offering. Once complete, Huobi Futures will announce the official launch on the Web and API. The options will also then be expanded to the Huobi Trading App.

The contracts will be offered in the European style meaning that buyer of the Option can only be exercised at the expiration. The Options contracts will, at first, only be available for Bitcoin.

Options have long been a popular derivatives trading tool in the traditional space, but this type of trading has also permeated the cryptocurrency space recently. A Bitcoin Options contract is similar to a futures contract with the main difference being that the trader has an option, rather than an obligation, to buy or sell on a fixed date at an agreed upon price.

The crypto behemoth’s entry into the derivatives market has been incredibly successful so far and continues to be bolstered. The company has been sitting at the top of many metrics regarding trading volume and has rocketed to the top in Perpetual Swaps in just a few months.

Kazakhstan-based mining provider Xive announced mining capacities empowerment and the launch of an updated site on the 9th of July. On xive.io website you can buy a fast mining contract starting from $4.55, pre-order mining powers or even become a partner of the company by filling out an application for the equity purchase.

Besides hashpower sharing, Xive offers its clients mining hardware accommodation starting from $0.042 per kWh.

For its clients Xive offers low upkeep costs, customer support and real-time hardware monitoring. Also, company claims to have the most transparent legal conditions on the market.

“We work legally and value our reputation. Therefore, we provide the highest level of service to our customers.” – stated Didar Bekbauov, founder of Xive.

Learning platform Xive Academy includes a set of educational articles on the company website and a series of free webinars, dedicated to the basics of mining and cryptocurrencies. The first webinar is intended for beginners, but it will also be useful for more experienced users to systematize knowledge and look at mining and cryptocurrencies from a different point of view.

14th of July at 4 PM UTC – “Mining secrets 2020” online webinar will take place. More information and a registration form can be found by link.

About Xive

Xive is an officially registered Kazakhstan-based mining provider that offers remote mining and hardware accommodation services. The company was founded in 2018 as a part of Astana Hub – government-supported international techno hub. Company owns and manages three datacenters and develops real-time hardware monitoring software. In the near future Xive plans to launch hashpower marketplace and own mining pool. Among company services there are hashpower pre-order, fast mining contracts purchase and hardware accommodation.

Banxa, a full-service, internationally compliant digital banking infrastructure provider, announced it has completed its USD$2 million Pre-IPO investment round. The round was led by OK Group, a world-leading blockchain technology and service provider focused on the research and development of the technology and its all-scenario applications..

The funding round will be used to support Banxa’s global expansion efforts as it enters new markets throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa. Other participating investors in the raise include Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), and listed Thorney Investment Group Australia, a multi-billion-dollar family office.

This Pre-IPO funding round supports further efforts of onboarding new customers as Banxa expands its global payment network all the while continuing its listing process on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX.V).

Representative from the Investment Department of OK Group Estrella Du said, “A blockchain-driven economy can enable everyone to access financial services without any intermediary, ultimately empowering people, regardless of social class and geographical location, with financial freedom and opportunities. To this end, building a bridge between fiat and crypto is of paramount importance. We sincerely hope our investment will be a catalyst for such development.”

Domenic Carosa, Founder and Chairman of Banxa said, “After almost six years in the blockchain industry, our goal remains the same––to champion a fairer, more open and more secure financial system for the benefit of consumers and businesses alike. We are currently in the final stages of a TSX.V listing which will make Banxa the first crypto Payment Service Provider (PSP) to be listed in the world, bringing well-needed transparency and governance to the crypto sector.”

Banxa offers a fully compliant fiat-to-crypto conversion service that provides regulatory compliance, fraud detection and mitigation. Accommodating a host of global payment options including leading global credit card providers, bank transfers in the European Union, Australia, and the United Kingdom, as well as cash payments, Banxa is able to offer high volume payment processing at low fees. Banxa’s B2B service launched in late 2019 and has already seen integrations with global crypto firms including OK Group entities , Binance, KuCoin, and EDGE Wallet, servicing a combined customer base of over 20 million users.

On-chain data shows that crypto investors are not taking profit, however, they are still holding on even in the face of economic uncertainty and the strong performance of bitcoin.

It may come quite shocking but by the data on the 15th of June, 60.63% of all of the bitcoin has not moved an inch for over a year even though it peaked a couple of months ago and reached its highest in the last 2 years. This information comes from Glassnode, which is a blockchain data and intelligence provider which develops applications that provide new ways to gain insight into blockchains and cryptocurrencies. The data suggests that the bitcoin (BT) owners are consolidating and investors who have acquired the crypto in 2018 are not willing to sell their investments. This is the largest supply sitting inactive for almost 4 years now.

Lots of cryptocurrencies and bitcoin, in particular, are affected by loads of different aspects. For instance, the socio-economic problems in the United States of America have shifted the pricing for the bitcoin a couple of times during the last months. The protests caused by the death of George Floyd fueled the long-brewing emotional response from the people and black minorities in particular to systemic racism. With the President of the United States, Donald Trump, being actively involved in the dissolution of the situation as he commanded the national guard to move in and assist the police with some of the more aggressive parts of the protests have shifted the price of bitcoin to $10,500, which is the peak price since its last jump couple of years back.

The way active bitcoin traders have been dealing with trading bitcoin has been the use of stop loss and take profit orders, which gives them the ability to close the trade as soon as the price hits bare minimum for them to make a profit. This means that the traders are staying on the safer side while still maintaining their financial stability and avoiding big losses. The matter of fact is that the market may start shifting at any time. This may happen when the trader is sleeping or out on their business. One cannot sit next to the computer 24 hours 7 days a week watching the charts. Thus the tools at hand have come in extremely handy.

The ongoing issues with the novel coronavirus pandemic, which rocked the world and resulted in the massive lockdown of borders unseen before have also disrupted all of the markets making trading that much more dangerous. However, for a vigilant trader, it still leaves the opportunity to make huge gains. This is exactly what has caused the shocking bearish tendencies on the market with bitcoin that Glassnode has uncovered.

One of the methods used to analyze inactive bitcoins is to group them using the length of time they’ve been inactive. This method was pioneered by the Austin, Texas-based Unchained Capital. The method has been named “HODL Waves.” It is a visualization that shows the cross-section of the wallets where bitcoins are held and groups them by the amount of time since they have been moved.

The term “HODL” stands for “Hodled” and represents the behavior of people who are just sitting on bitcoin with no intention of using them. The co-founder and the CSO of the Unchained Capital, Dhruv Bansal, has stated that the HODL wave represents the people “who bought bitcoin on the way down from $6,000 to $3,000 in 2018 are still holding it despite the tremendous gains since then and the recent economic turbulence.”

The two segments that have grown during the last couple of years are the bitcoins held for more than 10 and the ones that have been locked up for 2-3 years. The increase has happened by 31% and 26% respectively. The 2-3 year one represents the coins held from the 2017 market all-time high to present.

There are numerous reasons why the “hodling” can happen though. It may not even be due to the fact that someone just wants to sit on a bitcoin but rather maybe they have bought it up way back in the day and have forgotten all about it, or maybe they cannot log back into their Coinbase or have lost Trezor (wallet). It is also, sadly, true that some of these people may just be deceased without their family or friends ever knowing about them owning the bitcoins in the first place. Back in 2010, no one knew bitcoin would be hitting such highs. There was even a time when Laszlo Hanyecz bought 2 pizzas with 10,000 bitcoins back in May, 2010. The media was all lit up with the first official sale made with cryptocurrencies. This was the time when bitcoin was a little over 1 year old. Most of the people back in the day just bought it for the laughs. Some have kept on them and accumulated immense amounts of riches, while others, unfortunately, have lost their lifetime opportunity to strike the jackpot. However, when it comes to Laszlo, he states that there are no regrets from his side.

The first quarter of 2020 has been extremely volatile. Ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty and the increase in the amount of bitcoin just being stashed away in traders’ wallets just gives the incentive that a lot of people still believe in their purchase. One thing is for certain though, the bullish pattern is quite apparent in traders all over the world right now. And as Bansal has also stated: “If you believe bitcoin’s price history repeats or at least rhymes, then this may be a bullish sign, the market consolidating into strong hands as macro trends highlight bitcoin’s value proposition.”