Today’s Top News
Do you know what’s in your email? If it’s Taylor Swift, close your eyes. If it’s Bitcoin, rejoice!
Coinbase patents crypto-sending email technology
Coinbase is about to get bigger. On Tuesday, the crypto exchange secured a grant for technology that will allow cryptocurrency users to send their favorite cryptocurrency via email. The sending email address is linked to a wallet, and if the wallet has the minimum balance required to honor the transaction, the receiver will see the crypto appear in their own wallet within 48 hours. This has the potential to benefit XRP, the fifth most favored coin on Coinbase, because of its ability to pay cross-border remittances. It could also allow generous crypto holders to give to charity, though not in time for this Christmas. — COINDESK
Clovr finds that Bitcoin wealth inequality dropped in 2019
Unlike the wealth equality of Litecoin, which could cause the next bull run, according to one analyst, and Ethereum, Bitcoin’s distance between the whales and the minnows has declined this year from what it was in 2018. Ethereum’s Gini coefficient, a measure economists use to determine wealth inequality within a specific economic system, went from 0.69 to 0.78. Bitcoin Cash went from 0.73 to 0.75. Bitcoin’s dropped from 0.66 to 0.64. Clovr cautions traders to avoid anything with less than a $100 million market cap, such as Huobi Pool Token, where 70 percent of tokens are owned by a single address. — COIN TELEGRAPH
Image from Clovr.
Bakkt volume spikes on Bitcoin’s trend reversal
Grayscale has seen an influx of institutional investment in its Bitcoin Investment Trust in the latter half of 2019. Meanwhile, Bakkt’s Volume Bot tweeted the exchange hit an all-time high. These events could be credited with Bitcoin bouncing back over $7,000 again. In fact, BTC rose a full 11 percent in one day. That has some analysts back on the optimism train, but Tim Draper found his vibralto. One prominent author says it’s the cost of mining Bitcoin. — NEWS BTC
Image from @CryptoCred on Twitter.
Crypto taxes will be the discussion in 2020
As Iran discusses a Muslim cryptocurrency to fight U.S. dollar dominance in the Middle East, Congress is preparing to discuss a Cryptocurrency tax act. Up in the air is which regulatory agency should regulate which cryptos and for what reasons. Another part of that discussion could be what to do with token swaps, a type of cryptocurrency exchange that involves discarding one crypto for another one of equal or higher value. — FORBES
Beware of Taylor Swift Images
As Binance Singapore moves to block Wasabi Wallet withdrawals, some other ne’er-do-well is using images of Taylor Swift to hide malicious malware with a crypto-mining botnet. The MyKings botnet uses a process called steganography, which is not the study of the Stegasaurus. If you’re a Taylor Swift fan, think before you click. — THE NEXT WEB
Image from Hard Fork.
Most Interesting Reads and Deeds
What is the future of cryptocurrency? Should you invest in Bitcoin or an altcoin? What makes for a healthy crypto economy? These are questions begging to be asked, and this morning I asked them.
Should you invest in Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH)?
Everyone has an opinion on the two largest cryptocurrencies on the market. Some Chinese pogues were accused of a $2 billion Ponzi scheme and are now allegedly moving 789,525 ETH between wallets—$105 million at a time. One prominent online news magazine for the uber-wealthy compared BTC and ETH for its readers and concluded if you had invested $1,000 at the time of founding for each currency you’d have roughly $170 million in BTC and $67,000 in ETH. Bitcoin had a five year head start. — ROBB REPORT
Image from The Next Web.
7 Keys to a Healthy Crypto Economy
I spent some time this year playing around on a new social blogging site called Narrative. Earlier this month, they announced they were sunsetting. The site has been locked down since. But I got to thinking about what it takes to build a healthy crypto economy, which, it seems, is what every social site playing around in the blockchain space is trying to do. This article is one I wrote that addresses that question. It’s available at both Steemit and Coil. — STEEMIT, COIL
Image from Pixabay.
Does cryptocurrency have real staying power?
Six prominent crypto enthusiasts weigh in on the future of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. One prominent analyst says it will transform banking. Another says it’s an excellent long-term investment. One expert calls it “the future.” A crypto firm CEO says it will “beat the critics.” And another says 2020 will be a historic year. See who says what. This is an awesome read. — ENTREPRENEUR
How to predict Bitcoin’s daily price
Predicting the price of Bitcoin from one day to the next can be quite tricky. What data do you use? Do you strictly go by technical analysis? Does the news count? Are there fundamentals that must be considered? This tutorial shows how to do it using R 3.2.0 with OpenBlender, RandomForest, and MLmetrics. Beware: Fairly technical. — TOWARDS DATA SCIENCE
Image from Towards Data Science.
What is the future of the blockchain?
Given that there isn’t just one blockchain, there is a lot happening in the world of crypto today. Orchid pumped 22 percent after listing on Coinbase. Justin Sun donated $1 million to Greta Thunberg. Forbes partnered with Unlock to give readers ad-free reading. And Venezuela plans to airdrop Petro to its citizens. All of that looks promising. So, what’s the future of blockchain technology? Sebastian Markowsky, the man who predicted the 2018 bubble-bursting, has his say on that. — VALUEWALK
Image from a YouTube video.
Ledger technology can secure your Facebook and email accounts
Using two-factor authentication, Ledger has taken its hard wallet security technology and developed it to apply to Facebook, Gmail, Dropbox, and Github. Break open the Champagne — DECRYPT
Allen Taylor is a veteran award-winning journalist and former newspaper editor. He is a freelance writer focused on fintech, including blockchain and crypto projects, and manages crypto blogs through CryptoBloggers. Follow me on Twitter and Steemit.