CryptoDigest@Steem Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Dear Steemians!

Here is the daily press review for bitcoin and other crypto currencies.

BIP 148 + SegWit2x? A Bitcoin Scaling Compromise Might Not Be So Easy
If a majority of mining pools don't flag support for SegWit, BIP 148 will lead to the creation of two separate bitcoin assets. Likewise, BIP 148 will be triggered on 1st August, an event some are calling "Bitcoin Independence Day". So, with that in mind, several developers have argued that SegWit2x should adopt BIP 148 to avoid a split. If all goes according to plan, users will be able to begin running SegWit2x on 21st July. BashCo could be right, but it's hard to say what will happen given that there's some resistance to BIP 148 in the bitcoin community. (coindesk.com)

Goldman Sachs Takes Bearish View on Bitcoin
In an important step for the integration of Bitcoin into the wider financial world, Goldman Sachs started covering the currency this week. Put in other terms, it appears that Goldman has taken a bearish view on Bitcoin. However, in its earliest reports, Goldman suggests that Bitcoin may not be able to maintain its ascendant status for long. Billionaire Mark Cuban indicated his belief that there is a Bitcoin bubble in effect, saying that he was cautious whenever "everyone is bragging about how easy that are making money" in a tweet from last week. The fact of the matter remains, however, that Bitcoin, and cryptocurrencies more broadly, has yet to prove its place within that larger world. (investopedia.com)

Electra, In Reality, Has Passed Bitcoin On Coinmarketcap
However, since market cap requires a value for circulating supply, Electra is no longer ranked although it still exists on Coinmarketcap. Electra (ECA) has become the first cryptocurrency to pass Bitcoin's market cap on Coinmarketcap. If Coinmarketcap fixes this, Electra will go straight to number 1 at a market cap of around 160 billion dollars. The only problem is Coinmarketcap is not updating Electra's circulating supply. Unfortunately, there may be special interests that are preventing this to happen as other cyrptocurrencies are also competing to surpass Bitcoin's market cap. (cointelegraph.com)

Avoiding top Bitcoin scams
Bitcoin wallets are used to store funds and transfer money between other bitcoin wallets. To help you transact safer, we’ve compiled a list of popular virtual currency scams and best practices for avoiding them. Fraudsters may also be attracted to using virtual currencies to perpetrate their frauds because transactions in virtual currencies supposedly have greater privacy benefits and less regulatory oversight than transactions in conventional currencies. These fake bitcoin wallets use the names of trusted companies, such as Coinbase or Xapo, and go as far as using the same logo. VIRTUAL CURRENCIES, such as Bitcoin, are intended to serve as a type of money. (nationnews.com)

GOLDMAN SACHS: Bitcoin is looking 'heavy'
However, its near-term outlook isn't looking so hot, according to a note released on Monday by Goldman Sachs head of technical strategy Sheba Jafari. Jafari isn't alone in calling for at least a near-term top in the cryptocurrency. "Wary of a near-term top ahead of 3,134, Jafari concludes. "It’s on track to forming a bearish key day reversal if today’s close settles below 2,749." The cryptocurrency finished the day at $2,599, well below the key technical threshold of $2,749 that was singled out by Jafari. (businessinsider.com)

Mercedes-Benz to Promote Bitcoin in the Capital of Russia
Anyone who stops the Bitcoin smart car and says the password “We love Bitcoin” and a few warm words about Bitcoin technology will be able to take a free ride to any destination in the city. According to the announcement , the presentation of the new Bitcoin smart Brabus Xclusive will celebrate the one-year anniversary of the opening of the first Bitcoin physical exchange in Russia, mining museum and crypto-bar. While the legal status of cryptocurrency is still unclear, each citizen of Moscow, Russia, will soon have the opportunity to get a free ride in a new Mercedes-Benz automobile. Moreover, from July 01 to July 10, 2017, citizens and visitors to Moscow will be able to meet our Bitcoin smart car and ride in it. In 2016, the company MaRSe founded a Bitcoin center in Moscow, Soon after, in Summer 2017, it opened a mining museum, the first crypto-bar and a training center in Russia. (coinidol.com)

Bitcoin Volatility Reaches Fee Estimates As Prices Stay High
Volatility is not just affecting Bitcoin’s price itself; it is also hitting Bitcoin fee estimates as transactions continue to be slow and expensive. Volatility appears to have increased in step with transaction fees themselves. The action contrasts markedly with previous data, which on a graph produces almost entirely flat lines. Data added to Twitter by BitGo engineer Jameson Lopp shows a giant increase in spreads of BitGo’s estimated most appropriate fee level for a Bitcoin transaction since the end of May. Reductions accelerated in line with a drop in prices on Monday but have since reversed as a correction hit. (cointelegraph.com)

Bitcoin exchanges buckle after traffic load
This downtrend appears to have prompted an influx of traffic at bitcoin exchanges leading to outages for some users. We appreciate your patience while our team actively work to resolve this issue. 16:07 PDT – Coinbase is now serving all customer’s traffic. The most popular exchange that was affected was Coinbase, according to its status website it says that:“11:08 PDT – Coinbase is currently experiencing high traffic & customers have received a “service unavailable” message when visiting Coinbase.com. That Twitter user grilled Coinbase Support for “scamming people” because the site, in practice, can only handle the load when prices are high. Yesterday, we reported that bitcoin had broken a new record by reaching $3,000, following that it tumbled quite rapidly, more so than it has in years. (neowin.net)

Repeating Bitcoin Price Fall With Ethereum Gain Will Cause Flippening: Bruce Fenton
Former Bitcoin Foundation Executive Director Bruce Fenton has said Ethereum will become the biggest coin if the past 24 hours’ performance repeats. Nonetheless, Bitcoin’s dominance is slipping fast, by market cap now controlling only 40.5 percent of the total. With further robust trading, very little stands between here and what is known in the crypto community as the ‘Flippening’ - where ETH’s market cap usurps that of BTC. Fenton added that those investors who pulled out following yesterday’s drop in price had likely performed a “bad trade” as a correction gets underway. Ethereum’s mammoth leaps have caused it to become the new focus of community attention, as various sides argue over its true value. (cointelegraph.com)

Bitcoin rallies after hundreds of dollars were slashed off its price
Bitcoin prices are back on the rise after crashing 14 per cent yesterday on the back of a record high. Despite the recent gains, bitcoin could still have a bumpy road ahead. Read more: Bitcoin: It's just been made blinkin' easy for Brits to invest in Early indications showed the price had diverged too far from fundamentals, analysts told CoinDesk. Prices are rising again today, up 2.61 per cent to $2,752.71 at the time of publishing, according to CoinDesk, which aggregates prices across several exchanges. (cityam.com)

Gold And Bitcoin Revisited
A comment from someone who doubted the future of both gold and Bitcoin was, "… gold is another hustle. In that article, the two camps argued the value of gold versus Bitcoin in the comments. Gold is currently around $170 per ounce higher, but Bitcoin traded to highs if $35 below $3000 last week. I enjoy writing about gold and Bitcoin in the same article because it serves a deep seeded perverse need within my being. The strength of both Bitcoin and gold is an important signal for traditional foreign exchange markets about the declining value of paper fiat currencies. (seekingalpha.com)

5,000 Bitcoin ATMs May Be Coming to Europe This Year
Bitlish, a London-based Bitcoin​ exchange and ATM provider, has announced it plans to open an impressive 5,000 Bitcoin ATMs across Europe in 2017. The spread of Bitcoin ATMs, or BTMs, depends on the user demand and stance of regulators in the region. We look forward to connecting up to 300 BTMs in CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) and 5,000 in Europe this year. Data from Coin ATM Radar shows that the United States is the country with the most Bitcoin ATMs (840 locations), and Canada comes in at second place with 166 locations. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Bitlish’s Max Grain said, “We plan to expand through our partner network across Russia and Europe. (investopedia.com)

Bitcoin Is Helping the Pot Business Get Over Its Banking Problem
At least some companies say bitcoin technology will make sense in the cannabis industry even after traditional banking becomes available. Trove became a POSaBIT customer in February after being on a waitlist for six months, according to Yin-Ho Lai, Trove’s founder and chief executive officer. Cannabis companies are turning to the world’s most popular digital currency in an effort to get rid of all that cash. POSaBIT says it’s taken steps to comply with federal and state laws regulating both marijuana sales and digital currency. The company also has a nine-point fraud-detection program designed to thwart criminals, and requires that its retail customers have a bank account, not necessarily a given in the cannabis industry. (bloomberg.com)

Cryptocurrency exchanges shut down amid heavy trading, rollercoaster Bitcoin
Overall, 9,323,978 Bancor network tokens (BNTs) were created as part of the ICO, making it the largest-ever ICO, according to CoinDesk. Coinbase, one of the most popular ways to buy and sell popular cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin experienced an outage Monday. READ MORE: Bitcoin rival ethereum hits record high rallying almost 3,000% this yearThe blockchain is the public ledger where transactions in cryptocurrencies are recorded. On Sunday, Bitcoin climbed to a record high of $3,041.36, according to CNBC.Then, on Monday, Bitcoin experienced its largest crash since January 2015, falling more than 16 percent to $2,532.87. Several exchanges for the cryptocurrency suffered outages during the fluctuation, leaving customers unable to buy or sell for hours. (rt.com)

Why Ethereum Is Outpacing Bitcoin - Slashdot
Even as Bitcoin hits its all-time high, people's interest in other cryptocurrencies hasn't waned, especially Ethereum. But what makes Ethereum popular among some? From an article on VentureBeat: (slashdot.org)

Bitcoin price recovers after sharp $300 drop
After topping $3,000 for the first time, the price of bitcoin has abruptly dropped more than $300. The digital currency climbed to a new all-time high of $3,012.05 on the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (BPI) on Sunday, but fell to a daily low of $2,650 several hours later. Court allows Israeli banks to deny service to bitcoin companiesA Tel Aviv district court ruling has legally empowered financial institutions in Israel to refuse their services to a bitcoin company. Bits of Gold, a cryptocurrency broker in Tel Aviv, sought help from the court after the Bank of Leumi dropped the bitcoin exchange as a client. And even with Monday’s decline, bitcoin continues to be more than 250 percent higher in valuation this year. (calvinayre.com)

More details on these and other related news can be found at http://zentrade.online/bitcoin-news-digest-tuesday-june-13-2017/