Image of The Day, 11 of September: Forbes, Market Watch, Quartz and Others
We're presenting "the image of the day". Bitnewstoday.com has chosen the most important news about the digital economy and virtual currencies. Only the most valuable stories from only the trusted sources. Each and every event from this list will change the world of the digital economy either way. The most important stories of this day in the most indicative quotes are below!
1. BITCOIN DILEMMA (Forbes)
Should Your Company Accept Bitcoin And Other Cryptocurrency Payments?
While your organization may have already grappled with whether or not to add PayPal, Square or Apple Pay to your payment options, adding the ability to accept cryptocurrency is a bit different. Deciding to accept cryptocurrencies is more like the decision to accept foreign currencies than just choosing to add a new form of payment processor. There are significant benefits to accepting crypto, but it is not without some drawbacks.
It’s safer, you are not paying various fees for the cashless money acquiring, and it saves significant amount of money. But there are downsides considering the issues with liquidity, lack of knowledge from the side of the staff, plus - there is always an issue with liquidity.
2. PRESSURE IS GROWING (Market Watch)
Bitcoin holds $6,000, but pressure mounts on broader market
Bitcoin held its ground above $6,000 Tuesday, with traders seemingly taking stock after the recent selloff put dents in many digital asset portfolios. In Tuesday trading, a single bitcoin was going for $6,232.88, down 1.1% since Monday at 5 p.m. on the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange. The price of bitcoin has tumbled 14% since the beginning of September.
The broader crypto market was faring much worse Tuesday, with major altcoins showing significant losses in early afternoon trading. The worst performing coin continues to be Ether, which has slumped to a 14-month low of $182.64. Ether was last at $184.00, down 6.3%. Tuesday’s slide took the market cap of the second-largest digital currency below $20 billion, to $18.9 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
3. BULLS TO THE RESCUE (Bloomberg)
Bitcoin Bulls Are Sweating Latest Test of Key Resistance Level
Bitcoin’s recent stumble could turn into a full-blown tailspin, testing its strong support level of $6,000 again, according to a leading technical indicator.
The biggest cryptocurrency has bounced off the $6,000 mark four times since February, and a break below that price could signal further capitulation. The GTI VERA Convergence Divergence indicator, which detects trend reversals and exhaustion, just ended its longest buy streak since July, suggesting more losses and pain for Bitcoin investors.
4. VILLAGE SIDE MINING (Geekwire)
Mining is transforming apple country, one megawatt at a time
Malachi Salcido, bitcoin miner and founder of large-scale contracting firm Salcido Enterprises, made that observation about the modern world during my visit to the hot and smoky Wenatchee Valley this summer. The construction engineer, who grew up alongside the array of hydropower plants that span the Columbia River in Central Washington’s Wenatchee Valley, knows first-hand that one of the most transformative industries in the history of the planet — information technology — requires plentiful, reliable, and inexpensive sources of electricity.
So instead of selling shovels to prospectors chasing a gold rush, he decided to start digging himself. His companies now operate a bitcoin mining network that he estimates controls around four percent of the world’s mining capacity, and he is devoting much of his attention to growing this part of his business.
5. FINAL BATTLE (Quartz)
The final court battle for India’s cryptocurrency exchanges begins
The uncertainty may finally be ending for the Indian cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Today, the supreme court will begin the final hearings in the case between virtual money exchanges and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). At the end of the arguments, it will be known if the exchanges will get any reprieve from the banking regulator’s crackdown.
The government has been uncomfortable with cryptocurrencies and had compared them to ponzi schemes. It has also issued advisories warning people against investing in these digital coins. Meanwhile, it formed a panel in December 2017 that is currently studying virtual currencies and ways to regulate them.
6. SOAP EXPOSURE (Forbes)
Bitcoin And Crypto Get Major British Soap Exposure
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency have found an unlikely home: on British soap opera Coronation Street, a TV programme watched by some eight million people per episode. Though bitcoin could now be considered mainstream — the original cryptocurrency also got a recent mention on Eminem's latest album — there is still a huge segment of the world's population that are unaware of bitcoin.
Many bitcoin and cryptocurrency speculators think that as the market for investment widens to include older generations and the less tech savvy, it could mean a surge of investment — pushing bitcoin prices far and above their all-time highs.
7. CRYPTO THE TERRIBLE (The next web)
Data shows that cryptocurrency is actually terrible for battling inflation
Cryptocurrency is often floated as a failsafe for floundering economies. When faced with economic instability, blockchain evangelists are often quick to prescribe Bitcoin (or some other altcoin) as a means of alleviating hyperinflation by being more stable than the local currency. But which is best suited for the task? Turns out, it’s none of them.
According to data from blockchain research unit Diar, no cryptocurrency wields the power to pull nations out of financial turmoil. Indeed, most coins – even established ones like DASH and Litecoin – suffer from arbitrary supply inflation or massive degradation in purchasing power. This means that practically every cryptocurrency is useless when it comes to battling inflation, when you consider its yearly average.
8. PHILIPPINES AGREES (News.bitcoin)
Philippines Okays PDAX Crypto Exchange
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) cleared the Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX) for license to exchange crypto and the Philippine peso. The exchange is being touted as one of the first of its kind to be specifically designed with Filipinos in mind, and will trade an array of cryptos and tokens, including bitcoin cash (BCH).
“This is an exciting time not just for seasoned cryptocurrency traders,” Nichel Gaba, PDAX CEO, explained, “but also for everyone who believes that the future of investing is digital. With the approval granted to us by the BSP, we hope to make financial markets more accessible to everyone.”
9. TOO CRAZY TO WORK (City Lab)
A startup called Voatz wants to build an unhackable way to vote over the internet
Voting in the U.S. is an intentionally high-friction endeavor. Elections are held at in-person polling centers, open during hours when most people are working, on a day that hasn’t been made a national holiday. They’re governed by strict voter ID laws, designed to weed out imposters and in many cases succeeding mostly in disenfranchising people of color.
Efficiency, some have argued, is not the point of the voting process. Security is. But this election season, West Virginia is trying out a new, blockchain-based voting system that officials hope can achieve both, simultaneously. And experts are calling it a “horrific idea.”
In April, the state began asking some citizens serving in the overseas military to trade in mailed absentee ballots for digital ones, submitted through an app run by a Boston-based startup called Voatz. No one is forced to switch over to the new system, but two counties opted in for a May primary pilot, and overseas military from every county are eligible to use it for the November election.
10. IN TALKS WITH WITH AUTHORITIES (The next web)
OKEx founder in talks with authorities over fraud allegations
Xu Mingxing, founder of OKEx, is under heavy scrutiny from Chinese authorities. He is reportedly in talks with police over accusations of fraud, which relate to an alleged involvement with a little-known cryptocurrency. Local media reports that Shanghai police have accepted the case today, and as such, a criminal investigation has begun. It is understood that Xu (also known as Star Xu) is co-operating with the authorities – he is currently not under arrest.
The allegations relate to Xu’s possible connections to obscure cryptocurrency project WFEECoin. For what it’s worth, Xu remains adamant that he is not a WFEECoin shareholder, as is alleged.