n Fast, scalable and efficient Why Microsoft, Walmart, and PwC opt for the proof-of-authority consensus algorithmn
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FATF Releases Guidance on Global Digital IDs as Use Cases Grow
The Financial Action Task Force wants financial institutions to prepare for the global expansion of digital identification systems.
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Bitcoin Needs Real Use Cases to Become Digital Gold, Says ICE Chief
Bitcoin might become digital gold, but first it needs to be used more in everyday business, said the Intercontinental Exchange’s chief executive.
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Building XRP Use Cases, Will Stefan Thomas AMA Trigger a Ripple Rally?
- Ripple consolidating with caps at 40 cents
- After Kava and Switch, Stefan Thomas’ AMA may drive XRP prices
Coil is a blogging platform monetize content, rewarding creators with XRP or USD. It is a creation of Stefan Thomas, a former employee of Ripple. In an AMA session, the community is waiting for gems that will probably spur participation, driving XRP above 40 cents.
Ripple Price Analysis
Fundamentals
Stefan Thomas, the former Ripple Chief Technical Officer (CTO) and creator of the InterLedger Protocol, will hold an ask-me-anything (AMA) session on May 30th. Hosted in Reddit, it will be interesting to hear what the founder of Coil has to say about their plans. The AMA will be a few days after Kava labs announced the launch of Switch.
“Switch sidesteps the problems of traditional DEXs by employing a novel solution: streaming micropayments, which work by moving little bits of value piece-by-piece until a complete payment or trade is complete.”
While at it, David Walsh, a Senior Web Developer and Software Engineer at Mozilla, is testing Coil. The revelation is five years after he created an account. It is understandable. David is an educator and regularly blogs.
On the other hand, Coil’s ambition is to reward content creators, launching their beta platform in early May. The blogging platform includes an optional monthly subscription that pays content creators as subscribers browse.
Candlestick Arrangements
At the time of writing, XRP is changing hands at 38 cents. It is constant against the USD and held within a broader 10 cents trading range. Although traders expect higher highs in line with recent candlestick alignment and trend set by Sep 2018 bull bar, XRP is under pressure.
Liquidation pressure stems from fundamental factors as well as price action. Note that buyers are yet to clear the 40 cents mark with this being the sixth month. All the same, it is likely that a breakout above 40 cents (or below 30 cents) shall spur participation.
If there is a surge, odds are XRP will rally to Dec 2018 highs of around 50 cents. That will be the primer for 80 cents especially if the breakout bar registers a spike in participation. Nonetheless, before that, aggressive traders should be accumulation on dips with safety nets below 34 cents, our minor support line.
Technical Indicators
Although May 14th and 15th bars are conspicuous, May 19th bull bar is where XRP/USD price action is consolidating in. It has average volumes of 56 million. Nonetheless, it is wide-ranging and bullish.
Therefore, for trend continuation, any bull bar signaling continuation of buy trend and closing above 40 cents must be propelled with trading volumes above 56 million.
Chart courtesy of Trading View. Image Courtesy of Shutterstock
The post Building XRP Use Cases, Will Stefan Thomas AMA Trigger a Ripple Rally? appeared first on NewsBTC.
XRP Arrows Up as Ripple Inc Fund Projects Promoting Coin’s Use Cases
- Ripple prices are stagnant along 30 cents
- Wietse Wind to receive funding from Xpring
- Transactional volumes likely to pick up as XRP prices recover
It’s all about the ecosystem and Ripple—via Xpring, are actively building that. With their funding of Wietse Wind, his project, XRPL Labs will only generate more XRP use cases. In turn, XRP prices will pump and rally from 30 cents.
Ripple Price Analysis
Fundamentals
There are several Ripple-news making headlines that could impact prices from a fundamental point of view. To begin with, Binance collaboration with Simplex—an Israeli based Fintech that says it enables payments while defeating fraud, is precisely what the Ripple and XRP community needs.
While at it, a Director at Xpring—a wing of Ripple tasked with investing and incubating projects lead by serious entrepreneurs–Vanessa Pestritto, said Xpring would collaborate and fund XRPL Labs—a brainchild of three developers lead by the ever-innovative Wietse Wind.
I cannot describe what I feel right now, but I'll try …
Starting today @baltazar223, @ThisIsTRISS and I will be officially working full time on building a few killer XRPL apps… Thanks to Xpring funding
https://t.co/dhgErN2EBl
— Wietse Wind (@WietseWind) February 13, 2019
Wietse is an active member of the Ripple community, and according to Vanessa, he is active, developing solutions and use cases promoting InterLedger protocol and other projects that are built on top of the XRP Ledger. With this partnership, Wind will now be working full time at XRPL Labs and join the likes of Stefan Thomas of Coil and Thomas McLeod of Omni.
Candlestick Arrangements
At the time of writing, XRP is changing hands at 30 cents, up 4.5 percent in the last week. Just for comparison, LTC—now the fifth largest coin, is up 26.2 percent in the same time frame.
Given this stagnation in the last few days, our previous XRP/USD trade plan is valid, and unless otherwise there are sharp gains (or losses), resulting in expansion above our minor resistance level, we shall recommend holding a neutral but bullish outlook.
Like before, our analysis is anchored on Feb 8 bull bar. While bouncing off the main support line, there is a clear double bar bull reversal pattern mirroring that of Jan 29-30. It emphasizes the significance of 30 cents as a primary support level and a price tag of interest.
Because prices are still oscillating inside this wide-ranging bar, it is positive for XRP. Especially when we factor in volume indicators. All we need are confirmatory surges above 34 cents. Once this print, it will surely light up price action, drawing XRP demand that would eventually pump prices towards 40 cents and 60 cents.
Technical Indicators
Volumes are shrinking, and the only catalyst necessary for increased participation is if prices rally above 40 cents. For that to happen, accompanying bull bar should have high trade volumes above those of 49 million of Jan 30.
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SEC Official Who Oversaw Crypto Cases Leaves for Law Firm Jones Day
Shamoil T. Shipchandler, whose team at the SEC brought cases against AriseBank and 1Broker, has joined law firm Jones Day.
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Major Consulting Firm McKinsey Finds Little Evidence of Practical Blockchain Use Cases
n According to a post published by major consulting firm McKinsey, there is little evidence for practical scalable blockchain technologyn
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Nearly 6,000 Crypto Money Laundering Cases Reported in Japan from Jan-Oct
The post Nearly 6,000 Crypto Money Laundering Cases Reported in Japan from Jan-Oct appeared first on DCEBrief.
Reported Crypto Laundering Cases in Japan Reach 6,000, Eight Times Higher Than 2017
The National Police Agency (NPA) of Japan has estimated that there were around 6,000 cases of suspected money laundering relating to crypto in the nation in the first three quarters of 2018. This figure is more than eight times that of the final nine months of the previous year.
Japan’s Crypto Exchange Required to Report Money Laundering Suspicions to Authorities
According to a report cited today by the Japan Times, the number of suspected cases of money laundering relating to cryptocurrency has seen an eight-fold rise in the last year and a half. The document was issued by the NPA and National Public Safety Commission earlier today.
It states that there were almost 6,000 reported cases of suspected money laundering relating to digital currency use during the period January to October this year. This compares to just 669 similar cases between April and December in 2017. The reason for this particular start date is that an update to the law relating to the prevention of criminal money transfers came into effect in April last year.
Naturally, officials are attributing the rise in reported cases to the growing familiarity with the process and understanding of what is required from exchanges under the amended legislation. An NPA spokesperson stated:
“We have seen some large-scale cryptocurrency thefts, and operators are believed to be scrutinising transactions more rigorously.”
The report issued today also highlights the government agency’s fears that digital asset use could be abused. It acknowledged that a lack of regulatory clarity in many jurisdictions around the world made it very difficult to police crimes associated with digital currency.
Since cryptocurrencies can travel quickly and stealthily, with zero acknowledgement of borders, they can be used with greater anonymity and efficiency than with traditional money transfer services.
Some of the examples mentioned in the report are of individuals falsifying identities to gain access to exchanges, and using the same documents or photographs for multiple accounts at the same trading venue. There has also been a suspected incident of a foreign visitor to Japan selling an exchange account to a local digital asset trader.
Related Reading: Japan Updates ICO Regulations While BitTrade Joins Huobi Family
Crypto is Just a Drop in the Money Laundering Ocean
Despite the seemingly rampant increase of suspected money laundering cases using cryptocurrency, the numbers for this new mode of committing a familiar financial crime pale in comparison to those associated with more traditional forms of value transfer.
The document goes on to state that there were a total of 346,139 cases of suspected money laundering involving any means of currency reported during the same January to October period mentioned above. Many of these involved banks or other large financial institutions.
Of course, none of this comes as a great surprise. Money laundering is nothing new and has been committed using every type of currency imaginable. Digital assets often come under intense fire from some in the financial industry for their role as an enabler of such financial crimes. However, figures suggest that Bitcoin transactions for any illegal purpose account for less than 1% all transactions occurring on the network.
The irony is that the biggest money launderers on the planet continue to be the largest banks. Just last week, NewsBTC reported on Deutsche Bank being raided for their involvement in the cleaning of many hundreds of millions of dollars of “dirty money.”
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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Ripple Swell Day One Roundup: xRapid Launch and RippleNet Use Cases
The first day of the Ripple’s two-day blockchain conference saw some significant updates.
As predicted, the San Francisco event turned out to be the launchpad of Ripple’s cross-border payment system, xRapid. CEO Brad Garlinghouse took the stage to announce that xRapid will go live for the first time with three mainstream financial institutions. Payment providers Mercury FX and Cuallix, as well as financial firm Catalyst Corporate Federal Credit Union will deploy xRapid for commercial use, thereby becoming one of the first companies to use XRP tokens to settle international transactions.
Speculators have been bullish on xRapid ever since Ripple announced it. It is believed that bank adoptions will increase the demand for XRP tokens. It would thus appreciate their value against the US Dollar. Just last month, XRP had swelled by more than 100 percent in just a week owing to the xRapid announcement.
A Former US President’s Take on Cryptos
Former US President Bill Clinton had also attended Swell as a key speaker, and he left some noteworthy remarks on blockchain as a whole. Onstage, Clinton joined Gene Sperling, a former White House advisor and Ripple’s board of director, to discuss the need for friendly regulations. The ex-politician compared the emergence of blockchain with that of e-commerce in the late 90s, saying that it would ultimately lead to “disparity of access.”
“The more you develop new technologies like blockchain … AI technologies, robotic technologies … the more the disparity of access is going to be felt.”
Clinton also acknowledged that blockchain assets can be abused in the hands of criminals and terrorists and called for intelligent efforts to identify the downsides without “killing the goose that [lays] the golden egg.” “This whole blockchain deal has the potential it does only because it is applicable across national borders, income groups,” he told Sperling.
Banco Santander’s Experiment with RippleNet
Ed Metzger, the head of innovation of Banco Santander, presented the outcome of their RippleNet-powered cross-border payment app, One Pay FX.
“We believe that financial services are moving to a world of open platforms where companies collaborate to deliver excellent customer service for their customers, and that’s at the core of what we’re doing with One Pay FX,”
Metzger stated, confirming that blockchain drastically improved the way they were handling cross-border payments.
.@bancosantander’s Ed Metzger speaking on stage about One Pay FX at #SwellbyRipple pic.twitter.com/Cp0cYWXtf6
— Ripple (@Ripple) October 1, 2018
“One of our customers was in Italy on holiday and parked in the wrong place,” he shared. “He needed to pay a fine and didn’t have his banking card. He was able to use the app to pay the fine immediately, and stop his car from being towed away.” It only took that customer four-five clicks to conduct an international money transfer, Metzger added.
Image from Shutterstock
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