In
a confidential report acquired by mainstream media outlets including
Reuters on Aug. 5, the U.N. Security Council North Korea sanctions
committee said that hackers formed an essential part of government
funding.
“Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea cyber actors, many operating under the
direction of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, raise money for its WMD
(weapons of mass destruction) programs, with total proceeds to date
estimated at up to two billion US dollars,”
Reuters quoted the report as stating.
As
Cointelegraph previously reported, Pyongyang regularly forms the main
suspect in investigations over attacks on exchanges in nearby Asian
countries.
In
particular, the entity known as the Lazarus Group has become notorious
for its malign activities, which have affected countries across the
world.
South
Korea appears to be a specific target, however, the most recent event
involving a phishing email scam in which hackers masqueraded as major
trading platform UpBit.
At
the same time, the FBI reiterated the U.N. view that North Korea was
deliberately stealing money in order to counter the effects of
international sanctions, which the report now said were likely to remain
due to a lack of progress in talks.
“We
call upon all responsible states to take action to counter North
Korea’s ability to conduct the malicious cyber activity, which generates
revenue that supports its unlawful WMD and ballistic missile programs,”
it added.
On
the 1st of August 2019, Walmart (the world’s largest company with the
most revenue and employees) has filed a patent application for its own
digital currency.
This move follows the Facebook cryptocurrency initiative in the form of Libra. The ‘Walmart Coin’ specifications are similar to what Facebook has proposed for its Libra.
Walmart’s
cryptocurrency may have demographic appeal to legislators involved in
the efforts of devising an alternative financial structure for people
who are not regular users of banks or find banking costly. This new
digital currency may not face the same regulatory trouble as Facebook’s
Libra as there is a difference of scale between the two. Walmart’s
cryptocurrency and Libra are different from others like Bitcoin in a
very important manner; they are backed by a central authority and
household names.
Walmart’s
digital currency is proposed to be a fiat-backed stable coin. It is
also said that it may be pegged to the US dollar and available for use
only at select retailers or partners. It seeks to make transactions
cheaper and faster. It could be tied to some other digital currencies
and may be purchased using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin rather than
fiat currency alone. It aims at providing a free or cheap way to store
wealth that can be converted back to cash as and when the need arises.
It could earn interest, be used for food payments and may replace debit
or credit cards without cash. Savings may be offered to customers on
purchases. It seeks to use artificial intelligence to help the customer
purchase according to his budget and preferences.
Walmart is trying to improve its inventory forecasts and predict consumer behavior by using the cryptocurrency to
collect purchaser data with the ultimate aim of increasing its
profitability. Its own tokens will also reduce the credit card
processing fees, saving it billions of dollars each year.
There
are ambitious plans for this new digital currency including the
provision of a freelancer platform, short-term emergency loans, digital
currency futures, and multi-tender integration.
Walmart is not new to the blockchain technology and at present, this
technology covers its supply chain management and digital offerings for
customers.
Walmart’s cryptocurrency
does involve a major privacy concern especially if it is used alongside
the various other services provided by the Walmart ‘Money Centers’.
It
seems imminent that large corporations will foray into the area of
cryptocurrency in the form of their own branded stable coins in an
effort to exterminate banks from their financial ecosystem. Walmart has
made a futuristic move. Whether this move proves to be beneficial is yet
to be seen.
We all know about cryptocurrencies
and the attention around has increased due to Facebook’s involvement
with it. Due to such attention, many people are looking forward to being
potential investors in the future and enter the crypto world. We all
are aware of the cryptocurrencies being untraceable and shrouded in
anonymity, for whatever reasons that attract us to this attribute of
cryptocurrency.
While
many crypto pundits and aficionados are aware of the basic security of
cryptocurrency, a large chunk of the market have no clue how crypto
works. So, here are the basic principles of cryptocurrency explained.
There are three main components of crypto security which are Asymmetric
Cryptography, Hashing, and Digital Signatures. They are explained as
follows –
Asymmetric Cryptography –
A Basic Lock and Key Mechanism
Asymmetric
cryptography is always concerned with two keys, a public key, and a
private key and they both act as a lock and key for each other. If a
message containing information is encrypted with a private key, it can
only be decrypted by a public key and vice versa. This acts as the
backbone of many cryptographic schemes such as SSL and TLS including
many cryptocurrencies that follow this simple mechanism. A piece of
information that can be put out there in the world using a public key
and that piece must be guarded using the private key.
Hashing – A Unique Code For Everything
Hashing,
in simple words, is encrypting a message or piece of information into a
code called hash. The hash of the message is calculated using the
information that the message contains. The hash is always determined
using an algorithm. The input of the algorithm is directly dependant on
the data of the arbitrary length. The output of the calculated hash is
always predetermined and remains the same for the same algorithm
elsewhere. This means that the same input will give out the same data
every time.
While
it is easy to convert a message to a hash, but it is difficult to know
the content of the original message using the hash. This is because for a
small change the hash entirely. For example, the change of a word in a
message or even capitalization of a letter can lead to the generation of
a new hash.
Digital Signatures – The Enforcement Tool
Digital
Signature is a combination of both Hashing and Asymmetric Cryptography.
The sole purpose of Digital Signature is to enforce nonrepudiation and
confirm the integrity of a message. The integrity lets you state that
the piece of information that you create is the same as the information
sent. Non-repudiation lets you state that the message you create can
only be created by you and no one else.
In
simple words, Digital Signatures act like the protection of
intellectual property (trademarks, copyrights) for cryptocurrencies and blockchains.
While these are an effective way to claim protection, they aren’t going
to encrypt anything on its own. A digital signature doesn’t keep
messages secret, for that hashing is used.
Dogecoin is getting more and more popular this year. The currency has been in the news for various different reasons and simultaneously for its increasing value in the market. Many of the investors and traders want to invest in the currency and it is also very popular on Twitter.
Dogecoin
is getting more and more popular this year. The currency has been in
the news for various different reasons and simultaneously for its
increasing value in the market. Many of the investors and traders want
to invest in the currency and it is also very popular on Twitter.
The
experts also dedicated that the currency has potential and its value
will get surge by the end of the year. Currently, it is under bearish
pressure but still, its indications are positive. The experts think that
the Dogecoin has an excellent future and the currency is good for long term investments.
Current Price of Dogecoin (DOGE): Currently,
the currency is trading at the value of $0.002911 USD and its value is
decreasing by -4.95%. It’s BTC value is also trading at 0.00000029 BTC
and also decreasing by -0.09%. The market capitalization of the currency
is $350,736,107 USD and its 24-hour volume is $20,917,093 USD. The
circulating supply of the currency is 120,468,921,229 DOGE.
On
July 21, the currency was trading at the value of $0.003112 and in the
course of the first ten hours, the value decreased to $0.002962. The
decreasing value was around 4.81%, but later the currency was able to
increase by 7.53% and reach up to $0.003190. The chart has two double
top shapes, first at $0.00319074 and second at $0.003111893 and the
intraday loss was around 4.35%. Even on yesterday, July 22, the currency
opened at $0.002974 and increased by 4.07% and reached up to $0.003093.
But, the currency loses around 3.87% and reached up to $0.002974.
In the cryptocurrency market,
Dogecoin is usually considered as the option of Bitcoin and generally,
investors invest in the Dogecoin for long-term plan because the
short-term investment in the Dogecoin is kind of risky. The currency
will reach around the value of $0.007 by the end of the year, the
experts predicted.
Dogecoin is getting more and more popular this year. The currency has been in the news for various different reasons and simultaneously for its increasing value in the market. Many of the investors and traders want to invest in the currency and it is also very popular on Twitter.
The experts also dedicated that the currency has potential and its value will get surge by the end of the year. Currently, it is under bearish pressure but still, its indications are positive. The experts think that the Dogecoin has an excellent future and the currency is good for long term investments.
Current Price of Dogecoin (DOGE): Currently, the currency is trading at the value of $0.002911 USD and its value is decreasing by -4.95%. It’s BTC value is also trading at 0.00000029 BTC and also decreasing by -0.09%. The market capitalization of the currency is $350,736,107 USD and its 24-hour volume is $20,917,093 USD. The circulating supply of the currency is 120,468,921,229 DOGE.
On July 21, the currency was trading at the value of $0.003112 and in the course of the first ten hours, the value decreased to $0.002962. The decreasing value was around 4.81%, but later the currency was able to increase by 7.53% and reach up to $0.003190. The chart has two double top shapes, first at $0.00319074 and second at $0.003111893 and the intraday loss was around 4.35%. Even on yesterday, July 22, the currency opened at $0.002974 and increased by 4.07% and reached up to $0.003093. But, the currency loses around 3.87% and reached up to $0.002974.
In the cryptocurrency market, Dogecoin is usually considered as the option of Bitcoin and generally, investors invest in the Dogecoin for long-term plan because the short-term investment in the Dogecoin is kind of risky. The currency will reach around the value of $0.007 by the end of the year, the experts predicted.
Cryptocurrency
has got much attention in the political sphere and came to the center
of their interest over the past few weeks. Recently, Jerome Powell, the
Fed Chair has compared Bitcoin with Gold. Also, with this, US President
Donald Trump has also shared his thought about BTC that has flashed the
regulatory collapse on the emerging markets. The President of St. Louis
Federal Reserve has said that cryptocurrency has entered the ongoing
global currency competition. With his comment, it is likely to consider
that according to him, cryptocurrency is competing hardly with fiat
currencies such as US Dollar.
According to many crypto advocates, the decentralized property of Bitcoin
will lead it to become the better alternative of other fiat currencies
and US Dollar. But it is still not clear that will Bitcoin be “Dollar
2.0” or more likely to be “Gold 2.0.” Jerome Powell, Fed Chair has
explained in the front of US Senate during the recent testimony about
the Bitcoin as now Bitcoin can be easily compared to Gold, it is
basically used as “speculative store of value” and the irregular
transactions of Bitcoin result into the omitted status of it as
currency.
Barry
Silbert twitted,” How far we’ve come. The Chairman of the Federal
Reserve just compared bitcoin to gold. Folks, it’s happening https://youtu.be/jBUlXryF2WI.”
The
President of St. Louis Federal Reserve, James Bullard, noted that in
the US, cryptocurrency is creating movements to have a non-uniform
cryptocurrency and this shows that cryptocurrency is giving strong competition to fiat currency.
In
a recent presentation, he elaborated his point saying,”
Cryptocurrencies are creating drift toward a non-uniform currency in the
U.S., a state of affairs that has existed historically but was disliked
and eventually replaced. I want to view cryptocurrencies of various
types as new entrants into the ongoing global currency competition.”
How Bitcoin
differs from fiat currency? Bitcoin is borderless, as geographical
regions can’t limit its utility. James Bullard also said,” I am arguing
that the current cryptocurrency wave may be driving the U.S. uniform
currency system toward something more like the international non-uniform
currency system.”
Well,
it is all about time and the time will only let us know does crypto
markets will be able to alter the global financial system with its
growing popularity. Although we have many questions in our mind, we
can’t resist the fact that Bitcoin is the past since decade and will be
the future of global population desire for being a more decentralized
world.
Well, there is no denying the fact that Bakkt has been one of the most awaited projects to date.
In
fact, as of the present scenario, Bakkt is been perceived as a future
main driver of not the bull market but also the crypto institutional
adoption. Therefore, as per some experts, the launch of Bakkt might
increase the probability of Bitcoin bulls shifting to a whole new height.
While one can’t deny the fact that the launch of Bakkt has taken more time than any other crypto community but there has always been a ray of hope as the wheels were seen moving. Moreover, as per the recent reports, the UAT (user acceptance testing) is scheduled on 22nd July, which proves the market won’t have to wait any longer.
As per the Fundstart Research reports,
“Bakkt’s
launch is expected late in the current quarter.Bakkt could be a huge
catalyst for institutional participation in the crypto market.”
An another report of Fundstart also mentions that :
“The CFTC is seeing growing demand and interest for bitcoin futures from the public.”
Moreover,
the CIO of BlockTower, Ari Paul’s wholehearted participation in the
Bakkt clearly indicates his positive hope for a wave of users into
space.
Therefore as per the Fundstart’s report,
“Paul
believes that retail adoption will be enormous once a killer app/UI
makes crypto on-ramps safe, reliable, and as easy to use as PayPal.”
The bitcoin price
has declined from over $13,000 to $10,600, by more than 18 percent
against the U.S. dollar since July 10, within two weeks. At its lowest
point this month, the bitcoin price came close to dipping below the
$9,000 level, dropping to as low as $9,080. Though BTC has shown
relatively strong recovery throughout the past week, it has struggled to
cleanly break out above $11,000, which has acted as a key resistance
level for bitcoin throughout July.
Billionaire investor and the CEO of Galaxy Digital, Michael Novogratz, said that bitcoin is likely consolidating currently before initiating its next move higher in a statement.
“If
BTC goes to $100, it is game over. It won’t. It’s already established
itself as a store of value. Stop wasting your time with these tweets and
go outside and enjoy the summer. BTC is consolidating before its next
move higher,” he said.
Josh
Rager, a cryptocurrency technical analyst, and trader indicated that
from a technical perspective, bitcoin has not cleanly broken out of the
$10,850 resistance level, which many traders have emphasized in the past
several days.
“Daily
time frame resistance did its job & price closed under after that
$400+ wick It’s always good to wait for a retest to make sure a broken
resistance holds as support & this is a clear example Neutral at the
moment & still in range,” noted Rager.
When the bitcoin price
initially moved past $10,500 after recording a nine percent rally
within a span of minutes on July 19, traders indicated that the $10,850
resistance level would have to be breached to confirm that the short
term trend of the asset is bullish.
“10.4
met. No violent reaction, no rejection – BTC looking decent. Let’s see
the reaction at this next resistance. Punch and close above $10,850 and
things start looking substantially bullish,” one trader said at the
time.
Bitcoin has not been able to reclaim $10,850 since then despite briefly surpassing beyond $11,000 on July 20.
While
many investors seem to be in a frenzy over the BTC losing its value
drastically, experts seem hopeful for the future. Only time will tell if
their predictions are true.
Bitcoin’s recent downfall isn’t a good sign for the crypto market. It is now fluctuating at a lower level than before and has managed to go down even below US $10,000. At the time of writing this, Bitcoin was traded at a meager $9,685 compared to highs of $13,000 at the end of June. Investors were quick to link this with the Congressional hearing of Facebook happening on the 16th and 17th of July. While many believe it may be just a coincidence, many veterans in the market believe otherwise.
Bitcoin’s Direct Connection With Hearings
Bitcoin’s price has somewhat of a direct relationship with events deciding the future of cryptocurrency. The hearings that take place have directly affected Bitcoin’s growth in the past too. First of all, the days leading up to the hearing have been bad for Bitcoin as it has shown bearish behavior. Also, today on 16th it has been at its lowest in a month at $9,600. While Facebook’s Libra jacked-up Bitcoin’s rally from $9,800 to $13,000, it has leveled it now leading up to the hearing.
In the past, the congressional hearings have influenced the price of BTC. Last year, Bitcoin’s price fell from $6,820 to $6,070 in a matter of five days in July leading up to a hearing regarding the future of Crypto. But, when a suitable outcome came, it rallied up to $7,400 due to a favorable outcome from the hearing. More examples of this include a hearing in February of the same year and in November of 2013.
About the Hearing & Bitcoin’s Connection to it
The Congressional Hearing of Facebook has been held to discuss its new project, Libra. The Crypto was expected to be heavily scrutinized because of the skepticism of the US Congress towards cryptocurrencies. The Facebook head of Calibra – David Marcus has been asked to testify to different lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee on the 16th and House Financial Services on the 17th. The impact of the hearings will be seen through the fluctuations of Bitcoin’s price.
The cynical behavior of such committees towards Libra may not be good for Bitcoin. The decisions taken in this hearing may send down massive shockwaves in the crypto market. While these hearings go on, the anxiousness is felt throughout the market.
The first week of July set the trend for the Crypto market this month. There were loss in prices but investors were optimistic of gain as the month progressed. But, these price drops have now amplified and taking down even the major cryptos in the market. The investors who were waiting for the major bull run of Bitcoin, it’s bad news as Bitcoin has been caught up in this trend of percentage drop in prices. The losses of these top 4 cryptos are not a good sign for Crypto ahead.
Bearish Sentiments Throughout the Market
The top 4 Cryptos going down have basically made the whole market bearish but it probably isn’t their fault. It was anticipated that in these top 4, currencies like Litecoin and Bitcoin will have a pullback and investors must be ready for it. But, investors of Litecoin weren’t actually ready for such pullback as it has happened just at the eve of the halving event of Litecoin.
For Bitcoin, it was said by many that it would lay down the foundation of the bull run at the start of July, and would be at least US $15,000 at the start of August. But, in this optimism, the realists who also kept the possibility of Bitcoin dropping a feasible outcome were cast aside. Talking about the other two, Ripple and Ethereum, it is just unfortunate timing that they have dropped when it was a down period in the market.
Losses of the Top 4 – In Figures
Bitcoin, for the first time in almost a month, dropped below the US $10,000 and it is a shocking revelation for many. The valuation of Bitcoin went down as low as $272 billion and showed signs of dropping even below at some point. At the time of writing this article, the price of Bitcoin is $10,795 and growing, fortunately, but it will take time for Bitcoin to assemble momentum for a bull run.
Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency in the market, suffered the most. Ethereum has lost nearly 20% of its value in the last 48 hours and took hits in its price. It was trading at $313 on 8th July, and it slowly started wearing down from that. In the last two days, where it was traded at $269, it went down sharply to the $200 mark. At the time of writing this, it is being traded at $229 but is still diminishing.
Ripple XRP, a cryptocurrency who has climbed in terms of valuation due to its blockchain success, has also suffered. It has seen a loss of 9% in valuation and went down from almost $0.40 to $0.32 in a matter of a week. It is trading at $0.31 now, with a stagnant graph of growth.
Litecoin, the fourth largest cryptocurrency, has the most unusual loss due to the timing. It should have been a booming period for Litecoin as the halving period is just three weeks away, but it is quite the opposite. Litecoin price has taken a steep drop from $123 on 8th July to $89 being traded right now. This trend of bearish growth was present even before that period as it wasn’t growing enough at the start of July.
If we talk about politics and bureaucracy, Russia is one of the most dominant countries in the world. On the contrary, Russia has the 12th largest economy which results in decreasing its value among the dominant countries. Talking about economics, the United States is the top leader among all and Russia is challenging its trade and investment with the new and enthusiastic technology, Blockchain Technology.
Russian national virtual asset got raised in 2015 and thus Russia knows about what cryptocurrency is and how to work on it, but the only the private sector is the one who discusses about it. In the year 201 itself, Qiwi and Webmoney, two Russian Payment entities, sent the proposition to the Russian’s Central Bank but it got rejected. But the deputy of State Duma, Andrei Lugovoi, has suggested that Cryptocurrency will benefit Russia to avoid the sanctions from the EU and US.
Talking about trade and investment, Russia is consistently trying to break the US stronghold for a long time. It seems like the political sector of Russia is now trying to go beyond the dominated financial system by the US. Not only the trade sector, but Russia also wants to reduce the sanctions done by the US and improvise its currency reserves from foreign. To do so, Moscow is working on blockchain technology to implement the security goals for long term purpose and improve the economic conditions of the country.
In Russia, the craze for cryptocurrency and blockchain has increased, and in 2017, in an international blockchain conference, Russian intelligence officer stated that “The internet belongs to the Americans – but blockchain will belong to us.” The Kremlin officials also backed up Russia in the following year to motivate them to build their own cryptocurrency or financial system based on blockchain. However, the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, didn’t agree with the idea of bringing cryptocurrency in the country but after going into its depth and understanding about this technology, he conceded to move forward with the revolution of cryptocurrency.
The Russian National Security Depository is currently working on in laying down the foundation of cryptocurrency in Russia but the facts say that it will take decades for the cryptocurrency to lay down its feet in Russia to bring out the better results. Central Bank has also said that they will support the cryptocurrency revolution in Russia but the head of the working group on cryptocurrencies, Elina Sidorenko at the State Duma claimed that “The country lacked the legislative framework, regulatory authorities, and technical requirement to immediately combine its financial system with cryptocurrencies.”
As it seems, there are many things to do in Russia in order to make Cryptocurrency to work better but the beginning seems to be good and it has also been said, “Every long journey start with just one step.”
