Bitcoin

Yoni Assia is the CEO and founder of multi-asset trading platform Etoro. The brokerage firm, which enjoys a high profile within the cryptosphere, enables digital assets such as BTC and BCH to be traded alongside stocks, ETFs, and commodities. Juxtaposed between the traditional and crypto investment realms, Etoro has a unique insight into the health of the industry. In an interview with news.Bitcoin.com, Yoni Assia shared his thoughts on what traders can expect in 2020. Also read: Bitcoin’s Next Decade Will Be Shaped by Derivatives 2019 Was a Year of Diversification for Etoro “We launched commission-free stocks trading this year and we’ve seen a flurry of new and existing trading platforms following suit and axing commission,” begins Yoni Assia. “This is important to attract new investors; people who are often put off from investing because of the cost. It’s also a boon to existing Etoro customers trading cryptocurrencies on the platform. One in 10 of people who came to us to tr

During the course of 2019, the most used BTC-based OP_Return protocol, Veriblock, outshined Omni Layer outputs. According to statistics, Veriblock captured 57% of BTC ’s OP_Return outputs in 2019. Ever since the protocol’s opcodes started dominating, a number of BTC influencers called the outputs “abuse” and “spam.” Also Read: Central Bank Gold Hoarding Hits 50-Year High Veriblock Captured a Majority of the BTC-Based OP_Return Outputs in 2019 2019 was an interesting year and a slew of blockchains saw a bunch of statistical changes. One specific data point observed this year was the consumption of OP_Return transactions processed on the BTC blockchain. Prior to the start of the year, the Omni Layer Protocol, the project that issues tether ( USDT ), captured most of the OP_Returns. But this year, the stablecoin firm Tether started migrating a great number of USDT to other chains including Ethereum, Tron, and Algorand. The company moved roughly half the activity of USDT into the E

Live streaming platform Dlive will soon be joining the Bittorrent ecosystem and begin migrating to the Tron blockchain. The Twitch alternative will no longer support the Lino blockchain after the transition to Tron is complete. Also Read: Youtube Star Pewdiepie Joins Live Streaming Platform That Accepts Cryptocurrency Dlive Enters Justin Sun’s Orbit Bittorrent has announced that Dlive, a blockchain-based content sharing platform, will be joining its ecosystem and begin a migration to the Tron blockchain. Last year Justin Sun, the founder of “decentralized web” crypto Tron, has taken over Bittorrent Inc , the San Francisco-headquartered company founded in 2004 to manage the ongoing development of the Bittorrent peer-to-peer file sharing protocol. As part of the deal, Dlive will advertise its products and services on Bittorrent as well as using its newest service for storage. The two sides explained that Dlive and its blockchain development team will collaborate with the Bittorrent

On Monday, Electron Cash developer Jonald Fyookball updated the Bitcoin Cash ( BCH ) community in regards to the Cashfusion protocol. Fyookball revealed that Tor integration is currently in the works. The Tor-integrated Cashfusion build is “the big piece” the development team needs to get from alpha to beta stage, Fyookball detailed. Also read: Privacy-Enhancing BCH Tool Cashfusion Begins Working Behind the Scenes Tor + Cashfusion Bitcoin Cash proponents are excited to hear that developers are relentlessly working on the Cashfusion protocol. A number of BCH users already utilize the Cashshuffle protocol, which mixes Bitcoin Cash-based UTXOs in a pool with other shuffling participants. Millions of dollars worth of BCH ( $41.2M ) have been shuffled since the platform’s official release in March. Cashshuffle adds a greater layer of privacy but the concept can be improved . For example, if a shuffling participant mixes their BCH and eventually consolidates the UTXOs, it’s possible

In this roundup, we cover Russia’s supreme court recognizing tokens as assets like money and property, France’s new crypto regulatory framework, and several industry developments in China, including a blockchain ETF filing. We also cover Japan’s world conference for decentralized financial governance, Uzbekistan’s crypto ban, and four countries’ central bank digital currency updates. Also read: Regulatory Roundup – New US Crypto Bill, France’s 1st Approved ICO, Muslim Crypto China’s Blockchain ETF and Crypto Warnings The China Securities Regulatory Commission revealed on Dec. 24 that it had received an application for a blockchain exchange-traded fund (ETF) from Shenzhen-based asset manager Penghua Fund. According to Chinese media, if successfully launched, this fund will be China’s first blockchain ETF. It will track the performance of the blockchain index recently launched by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, one of the two key stock exchanges in mainland China. The index comprises

The last five years have been a test phase for bitcoin derivatives, which began tentatively when Bitmex eased into life in 2014. Now, as the cryptoconomy prepares to enter a new decade, derivatives products will play a pivotal role in price discovery. 2020 will be a big year for bitcoin and for the futures markets where billions of dollars will be won and lost, and the next bull market will begin. Also read: South Korea Imposes $69M Tax Obligation on Crypto Exchange Bithumb A Year of Bitcoin Derivatives Is Dawning In 2019, crypto futures volumes approached those of spot trading. In 2020, futures are on course to blow right past spot levels and keep on trucking. The success of derivatives platforms Binance Futures and Bitmex, as well as new products from the likes of FTX, Dydx, and Synthetix, has convinced many that 2020 could be the Year of Derivatives. And U.S. regulators are lending credence to the notion: Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the independent regulat

Despite the harsh market conditions this year, high profile closures of a few ventures and a lot of employee downsizing, the number of companies operating in the blockchain and cryptocurrency fields in Israel actually grew by 32% in 2019. Also Read: Bankrupt DX Exchange Didn’t Pay Israeli Suppliers and Employees Israeli Blockchain Industry Survives Crypto Winter As of December 2019, 150 active blockchain and crypto companies are operating in Israel, an increase of 32% compared with only 113 companies at the end of 2018. This is according to a survey by the Israeli Bitcoin Association which was first reported by local financial newspaper Globes . The 2019 growth rate is a moderate figure compared to the strong growth seen in 2018, when the number of Israeli companies operating in the sector more than doubled, increasing by 113% from just 53 companies at the end of 2017. The situation in the blockchain field this year was also tame in comparison to the wider Israeli high tech scene

2019 was known for the growing trend of stealth miners mining on the BTC and BCH network. On Dec. 30, data shows that 68% of the Bitcoin Cash network’s hashrate is being mined by mystery miners. As the year comes to an end, the large number of unknown BCH hashrate has attracted scrutiny. Also Read: Ethereum Proponent Virgil Griffith Deemed a Flight Risk, Judge Denies Bail 68% of the BCH Hashrate Was Recently Processed by Unknown Miners On Monday, a post on the Reddit forum r/btc explained that “untrusted hash is at nearly 70%.” The r/btc thread detailed that on Dec. 30, statistics indicate that roughly 68% of the overall BCH hashrate is being processed by miners not willing to disclose their identity. When a known mining pool finds a block, in the coinbase there’s usually a message which identifies who mined the block. However, in 2019 both SHA-256 networks BTC and BCH saw a significant increase in mystery miners processing the chains. In January, two research reports not