296% in 2020, the overall crypto market topped $1 trillion last week for the first time, and digital assets are back in the conversation on Wall Street.

Whether the Coinbase listing happens as soon as this month, or takes many months (Lyft and Uber filed their confidential forms in December 2018, then took until March and May 2019, respectively, to debut), it is likely to enjoy a big pop, if recent unicorn listings like Airbnb and DoorDash are any indication. The company has 35 million customers, an $8 billion valuation when last reported in 2018 (likely much bigger now; Coinbase pre-IPO shares that trade on crypto exchange FTX have soared), and has been profitable for years, a rarity amid the recent unicorn parade.

But Coinbase will also carry significant controversy for some investors—and not just crypto skeptics.

The SEC is known to move at a glacial pace with approving new listings, and Coinbase, the closest thing to a crypto household name in the U.S., presents a litmus test that regulators will want to get right, since there will be more to come. (Bakkt, the crypto exchange launched by Intercontinental Exchange in 2018, announced this week it will go public via SPAC merger, which means it will likely beat Coinbase to market, but with far less fanfare, attention, and scrutiny.)

Coinbase has already dealt with regulator interference over the years.

As a custodian of customer crypto funds, the site submitted information on 13,000 customers to the IRS in 2018, in compliance with a 2016 request for information on all customers who held more than $20,000 of cryptocurrency between 2013 and 2015.

In 2018, Mashable uncovered more than 115 Coinbase customer complaints filed with the SEC over issues ranging from missing funds to outages to lack of customer service. Over the years, Coinbase has not infrequently suffered website outages during key price rallies or crashes, at times when users were eager to sell or buy, not unlike stocks app Robinhood. The outages have become a reputation hazard for Coinbase.

Story continues

Given this history, regulators might hold up the Coinbase listing with red tape.

On the other hand, many inside the crypto industry welcome imminent regulation, and some see the Coinbase IPO as a chance to start a new phase of cooperation with regulators.

“There’s been an increased focus on regulators, in terms of looking at this asset class,” says Flori Marquez, founder of crypto lender BlockFi, in which Coinbase is an investor. “To know that you have a crypto company in front of the SEC, having active conversations in terms of thinking, How do we make it easier for U.S. consumers to invest in this asset class, is just huge news for the space as a whole… I think it bodes extremely well for future development within bitcoin and what companies can do in the space going forward.”

On Dec. 22, the SEC charged money-transfer software startup Ripple Labs with conducting a $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering in 2013 when it began selling the cryptocurrency XRP, the No. 4 token by market cap. Since then, XRP has fallen 35% in value. Ripple Labs has vowed to fight the lawsuit in court.

Here’s where Coinbase comes in: Coinbase added support for XRP trading in February 2019. In response to the SEC action, Coinbase will halt trading in XRP on Jan. 19. Now a Coinbase customer in St. Louis has sued the company in California for the trading fees it collected on XRP transactions, arguing that the company should have known XRP was a security.

READ MORE: Ripple CEO: 3 reasons XRP is not a security

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, is from a single customer, but it’s indicative of a larger liability Coinbase faces with every cryptocurrency it adds to its platform. Coinbase’s listing could get caught up further in problems stemming from the SEC labeling XRP a security.

Cryptocurrency is still new and nascent, even if the wild 2020 price surge makes it look otherwise. Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency, has only been around for 12 years, and has had an active trading market around it for less than 10 years. Ethereum, the second-largest blockchain and the network on which the majority of new tokens created during the ICO boom were created, came around in 2015.

Most retail investors (not to mention sophisticated institutional firms as well) still find crypto confusing. It is a space with a multitude of misconceptions around it. Will investors want to rush in to buy shares of a company that represents an industry they don’t understand?

David Trainer, CEO of IPO research firm New Constructs, thinks they will.

“Given the stimulus-driven fever pitch we’re seeing, I think it’ll do great,” Trainer says. “It’ll be buoyed by the clamoring we’re seeing for all things current and popular—and popular doesn’t even have to be tech. DoorDash isn’t really tech. Is bitcoin tech, separated from blockchain? I don’t know that it is. Coinbase is a derivative of blockchain technology, which is a democratization of secure transactions to the greater public. And people make justifications for a lot of tech because they ascribe magical powers to things they don’t understand.”

In other words, Coinbase, which has been called the “Goldman Sachs of bitcoin,” could frame itself more as a financial services IPO than a tech unicorn IPO.

This is why it will be fascinating to see how Coinbase describes itself in its eventual public S-1 form: Will Coinbase say it’s a bank, and downplay the crypto part to the extent that’s possible? (Snap, infamously, led its S-1 by calling itself “camera company”; Casper was widely mocked for saying it created the “sleep economy.”) Coinbase’s current About page leads with: “Coinbase is how the world uses crypto.”

And then there’s the bad press.

In September, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong issued a public memo declaring that he wants Coinbase to be an apolitical company where employees don’t discuss politics or social issues. Tech media reports soon framed the memo as a form of further explanation after Armstrong was asked about his stance on the Black Lives Matter movement at an internal employee town hall. At a time when so many companies are actively taking a stance on divisive political issues, Armstrong’s attempt to stay out of it backfired; 60 employees, or 5% of the workforce, left the company after his memo.

READ MORE: How the Coinbase Memo exemplifies Silicon Valley’s political crisis

Since the Coinbase Memo and the conversation it prompted about Coinbase’s culture, the New York Times has twice reported on internal culture problems at the company, including allegations from Black former employees of discriminatory treatment, and data that shows a larger pay disparity between men and women than the average gap at other tech companies.

It is possible that none of this reporting will damage the appeal of Coinbase stock. (In a preemptive Coinbase blog post before the first New York Times story ran, Coinbase declared, “We don’t care what The New York Times thinks.”) And investors focused on financial performance can take heart in Armstrong’s own line in his infamous memo: “We are a for-profit business… We shouldn’t ever shy away from making profit, because with more resources we can have a greater impact on the world.”

Still, considering all the newness of the offering and potential regulatory hurdles it could attract, there’s good reason why Coinbase might end up going the direct listing route (a la Slack, Spotify, and Palantir), which involves no road-show, no new shares being offered, and less hype.

Daniel Roberts is an editor-at-large at Yahoo Finance and has covered bitcoin since 2011. Follow him on Twitter at trong>Read more:

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Math.floor(Math.random()*10e6); var absrc = '+rnd+';click=CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER'; document.write(''); Share Tweet Send Share A Belarus-based startup has launched a tokenized securities trading platform enabling investors to buy into traditional markets with bitcoin and ethereum.Tokenized SecuritiesBlockchain tech company Currency.com has announced the launch of its trading platform for tokenized securities. The Belarus-based platform is intended to enable investors to trade and invest in common financial instruments such as equities, commodities, and indices directly, without having to convert their cryptocurrencies in fiat.According to the official release, it will eventually issue over 10,000 tokenized securities but will start with over 150, including everything from popular stocks to silver, oil and natural gas.Users will be able to purchase tokens, which mirror the performance of certain conventional assets such as Apple shares listed on NASDAQ. It will cost the same price as an actual Apple share and can be bought with BTC or ETH.Currency.com is the very first blockchain-based business licensed by Belarus’ High Technology Park (HTP) under the country’s Decree No. 8 “On The Development of a Digital Economy.”Apart from being compliant with local legislation, the platform imposes strict KYC and AML requirements aided by blockchain intelligence services such as Elliptic, Chainanalysis, and Coinfirm. In other words, blockchain tracking software will be used to monitor transactions.Additionally, Currency.com is going to use its FCA and CySEC regulated sister platform to offer access to the tokenized versions of a contract for the exchange of a specific index, commodity or equity.Tokenized Assets: A Trend in The Making?Earlier this month, Bitcoinist reported that an Estonian-based platform called DX Exchange would offer users to trade big-name stocks using tokens on the Ethereum blockchain through smart contracts.Meanwhile, back in 2018, Singapore’s Monetary Authority (MAS) – the country’s de-facto central bank, teamed up with major firms like Deloitte, Anquan, and NASDAQ, to develop solutions for simultaneous exchange and settlement of tokenized digital currencies and security assets.It appears that the tokenization of traditional assets like stocks is becoming a growing trend as the number of platforms enabling this is increasing with each day.What do you think of token-based traditional assets? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!Images courtesy of Shutterstock Tags: Currency.com, MAS, Nasdaq, tokenization, tokenized assets Share Tweet Send Share 3Liked the article?Let us know! (

multi-millionaires by simply holding the digital asset.

Consequently, many bitcoin investment scams have sprung up and millions of dollars have been lost to fraudsters. Although some education and awareness campaigns have helped to expose some of the sinister scam tactics, it appears new and more brazen ones are emerging.

One such new tactic implies that investors can buy or own shares in Bitcoin itself, as if it was a corporation. This tactic is for example part of an elaborate plot used by individuals behind an operation called Bitcoin Inc, to con ignorant investors into mistaking the operation for “the real Bitcoin”.

In a presentation, the shareholders of “Bitcoin Inc” depict bitcoin as the creation of a privately owned company that came into existence around the year 2010. The timing of Bitcoin Inc’s emergence appears to give the impression that the organisation is likely behind the issuance of bitcoin itself.

Using half-truths and outright false claims, the scammers’ webpage says some investors already hold bitcoin shares through Bitcoin Inc’s full corporate shares after buying these in 2010. According to information on the site, there is a “21 million BTC maximum limit and 1000 Bitcoin Inc full corporate shares maximum limit.” One full corporate share is “equivalent” to 10 BTC.

Now in order to entice ignorant investors, the website implies that anyone who bought and has held on to one full corporate share since 2010, now has an investment portfolio valued at $210,000. This is because BTC has since risen from the price of $0.10 when the full corporate shares were supposedly issued in 2010.

Indeed, BTC has been the best performing asset in the past decade but certainly, it was not issued by any single entity as the operators of Bitcoin Inc are insinuating. Rather, the creation and issuance of bitcoins are down to a complex and decentralized technology.

So while Bitcoin Inc correctly states 21 million as the fixed maximum of BTC, the organisation fails to inform potential investors that nearly 18,5 million bitcoins have been issued so far. The very last BTC will only be issued in the year 2140, yet Bitcoin Inc implies throughout its pitch that 21 million coins are already in circulation.

Meanwhile, at the time of writing, BTC is trading at just under $18,000 but is struggling to break past the $19,500 resistance level. Interestingly, the Bitcoin Inc site falsely implies that BTC has a projected price of $21,000, which would be a new all-time high if it were true.

Normally this use of false information alone should be enough to turn investors away. Typical bitcoin scammers are aware of the general ignorance levels of non-bitcoiners such that they are not overly worried about the potential downside of using lies. Instead, the scammers know that using the appeal of getting rich quickly is often enough to hoodwink even the most rational investors.

Furthermore, an apparent reluctance to learn the basics about bitcoin (by non-bitcoiners), as well as the failure to follow trends in the crypto markets, usually gifts scammers with new victims. Perhaps the least known tactic employed by scammers is the attempt to cast themselves as a group of benign philanthropists.

Copying this strategy, Bitcoin Inc is giving an opportunity to investors that “missed out” when its full corporate shares were supposedly sold for the first time: Bitcoin Inc says:

Using a very incoherent explanation, Bitcoin Inc assures investors who missed out in 2010 that they can now make amends by “holding any amount of USDCX in your cryptocurrency wallet.”

To do this, the website then goes for the kill. An investor simply has to transfer USDC stablecoins equivalent to the USDCX “fractional shares” they want to buy to an ethereum contract address, but there is a caveat.

The statement explains that “in order to maintain the integrity of the Bitcoin Inc corporate shares,” the request for the USDCX shares will be processed manually. The statement adds:

Only when the process is complete does one become a “proud owner of USDCX and a co-owner of the official Bitcoin Inc.!” But nothing stops the scammer from doing the same thing again with another Bitcoin-like website and domain, such as “Bitcoin Ltd.” Bitcoin is perfectly suited for scammers in that there is no trademark or corporation behind the Bitcoin brand who can protect it from scammers.

What do you think of Bitcoin Inc’s fictional “fractional share” offer? Share your views in the comments section below.

Use Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash to play online casino games here.

Binance USD, Celsius, Dai, EOS, and more than 1,200 ERC-20 tokens via Ethereum.

Using Apple Pay also simplifies the purchase process, as you can skip identification verification …

Anti-money laundering legislation requires banks and other financial institutions to instigate what is known as KYC – Know Your Customer – verification.

Lumi explains that because Apple and its partner banks already completed these checks, Apple Pay users do not need to be re-verified in its own app.

Anti-money laundering regulations do still impose some restrictions, however.

The company says that Apple Pay support was one of the steps in maximizing ease of use in the app, which aims to cater to both cryptocurrency beginners and more experienced users.

Support begins today in more than 60 countries, including the US. Other launch countries include Canada, Germany, France, UK, Australia, Singapore, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates

Lumi Wallet is a free download from the App Store. While the ability to buy Bitcoin with Apple Pay is handy, bear in mind that many professional investors consider it a huge gamble with no real logic underpinning the value of it or other cryptocurrencies.

instruments, such as company stocks and exchange traded funds (ETF). According to the company, the application will be available to residents of 155 countries of the world, and investments in stocks and ETF throughout the 2019 […] The mobile application provider Abra has announced the expansion of product functionality by adding the option of investing with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies into traditional financial instruments, such as company stocks and exchange traded funds (ETF). According to the company, the application will be available to residents of 155 countries of the world, and investments in stocks and ETF throughout the year 2019 will not be subject to commissions. At the same time, the minimum amount of financial investments is set at an exceptionally affordable level of $ 5. Big News: #Stock and #ETF #investing coming to Abrahs $ 0 fees for 2019. Available in 155 countries Fractional investing w / $ 5 minimums Private and secure Welcome to the #futureofinvesting , built on #Bitcoin ! https://t.co/rvixGS74el Initially, the Abra app will have 50 assets available for investment, including shares of companies such as Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Google, Netflix, SPDR Gold Trust exchange funds, Vanguard Growth and S & P 500, as well as indexes like Russell 2000. “We believe that, in addition to global access, financial products should be easy to use and easy to understand. To achieve these goals, we are constantly improving the [user] experience of the application and offer information (price charts and asset summaries) that helps make informed investment decisions, ” said Abra CEO Bill Barhidt. He also expressed the conviction that over time the number of countries where the application operates will increase. “This list will grow as more and more people understand the inevitability of decentralized finance and the value of Bitcoin as a means to help come to this. It shouldn't matter where you live or how much you earn to participate in better investment opportunities, ”added Bill Barhidt. The application itself is not castodial, that is, it does not store user assets. As the company notes, using the bitcoin blockchain for this purpose, it makes transactions “more secure and private than their counterparts in the centralized databases used by most cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets”. Also in the statement, Abra says that the blockchain capabilities allow any asset that “has a reliable flow of quotes” to be tied to the price of bitcoin. To start using the application, you must apply for early access and wait for your turn. At the time of writing, the waiting list was close to 8,000 users. Recall that last year the Abra application added support for bank cards , as well as the ability to buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies using SEPA payments. In addition, a Bit10 investment token was launched on the basis of the Bitwise cryptocurrency fund. Discussion of the current situation in the cryptocurrency market, the opinions of 3 expertsExchange derivatives LedgerX launched a binary option for halving BitcoinCryptocurrencies have become a priority research area for CFTCCoinbase Exchange will make backup copies of private keys in cloud servicesNasdaq will create Bitcoin and Ethereum indices in its service for traders GIDSBitcoin rate will rise to $ 8000 in the near future, the forecast of Mike NovogracMedia: investors filed a class action lawsuit against the Huobi Exchange and the Elastos In 2019, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will pay special attention to monitoring the cryptocurrency market. This is stated in the official press release of the department. The work on this direction will be entrusted to the market monitoring department (DMO), which checks the compliance of the regulated futures markets with the CFTC requirements and the Commodity Exchanges Act. “This is the first publication of the priorities of expert divisions and it is directed […] In 2019, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will focus on monitoring the cryptocurrency market. This is stated in the official press release of the department. The work on this direction will be entrusted to the market monitoring department (DMO), which checks the compliance of the regulated futures markets with the CFTC requirements and the Commodity Exchanges Act. “This is the first publication of the priorities of expert units and it is aimed at improving relations between the agency and the subjects it regulates, while promoting a culture of compliance with our registrars, ” said CFTC Chairman Christopher Giancarlo. He also added that the initiative was taken as part of the “KISS Project” (Keep It Simple Stupid), which implies extensive verification of the CFTC rules and regulations in order to make their implementation “less costly and burdensome”. Recall that last December the CFTC announced its desire to learn more about Ethereum and the underlying technology. Already in February of this year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its intention to study the blockchain data of the leading cryptocurrencies. In October 2018, Christopher Giancarlo said that cryptocurrency has a future, but they cannot compete with fiat. Barry Silbert, head of Digital Currency Group, continues to believe in Bitcoin’s great future, but questions the long-term prospects of most existing cryptocurrencies and digital tokens, saying in an interview with CNBC that they will all be worthless in the future. “I don’t believe in most digital tokens and I think that they will go to zero. Almost all ICOs were an attempt to attract […] Barry Silbert, head of Digital Currency Group, continues to believe in Bitcoin’s great future, but questions the long-term prospects of most existing cryptocurrencies and digital tokens, saying in an interview with CNBC that they will all be worthless in the future. “I don’t believe in most digital tokens and I think that they will go to zero. Almost all ICOs were an attempt to attract money, but the tokens underlying them are not used at all , ”he said. At the same time, Barry Silbert is convinced that Bitcoin, despite the current “terrible schedule”, enjoys great interest from institutional investors and “won the fight for the title of digital gold”. According to him, the new generation of investors no longer sees gold as a “safe haven”, and the money that is now in gold will be converted into cryptocurrency. “I am sure that the money that is now in gold will not stay there for long. Millennials will enter Bitcoin, ”he said. Barry Silbert believes that the buy and hold strategy is fully justified, although it is still difficult to say exactly when large institutional money will go into Bitcoin. Nevertheless, he noted, at the beginning of 2019, all the necessary infrastructure for this was already in place, listing the upcoming launch of the Fidelity custodial solution and investment opportunities such as the Bitcoin futures platform Bakkt. When the mood among major investors changes, Bitcoin is waiting for serious and aggressive growth, Silbert added. His words were largely consonant with the latest statement of the head of Galaxy Digital Mike Novograts, who believes that, thanks to institutional money, the price of Bitcoin will reach $ 8,000 this year. The American stock exchange cryptocurrency Coinbase announced that henceforth the purse holders on its platform will be able to create backup copies of their private keys using the cloud services iCloud and Google Drive. “To recover funds, you only need to remember the password you set, ” the company wrote. If you lose your device or exit the application, you can easily restore access to your funds using a personal cloud account (iCloud or Google Drive) and a password. ” It is assumed that this feature will allow users not to worry about the possible loss of access to their funds due to unforeseen circumstances. “Private keys that are generated and stored in your mobile device are the only way to access your funds in the blockchain. Owners of “user-controlled wallets,” such as the Coinbase Wallet, sometimes lose their devices or cannot recreate a phrase to restore access from 12 words and lose access to these funds forever , ”the company added. Netizens, however, accepted the new Coinbase initiative without much enthusiasm, bearing in mind the numerous hacks related to weak passwords and other account-related errors. “I'm not a big fan of teaching user poor security measures. Cloud storage can be convenient, but they are constantly hacked, in particular by transferring mobile phone numbers. With a probability of 99%, people who, by a sinful affair, want to use this option, will not have enough strong passwords to resist professional hackers. ” "I can not understand how you can be so much mistaken about your target audience, " wrote one of the Twitter users. “I always dreamed of storing my private keys on servers in China ,” added another. Publication date 13.02.2019 Share this material on social networks and leave your opinion in the comments below. 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a particular company without having to invest directly in that company. The key is identifying the firms that are contributing to that companies overall growth. You dont have to own the company to capitalize on its gains One of the most frustrating things about investing relates to missing out on a viable opportunity to buy a particular stock. Think Apple, Google, and Microsoft and how their valuation have soared since their initial public offerings to the point that they are out of reach for many investors. Long-term investors understand that if they had got in on these particular growth stocks years ago, they would be enjoying some pretty nice returns. But what about those who didnt have the wherewithal, or means, to buy into such opportunities? Must they now just sit back and declare its too late? The answer is no; there are alternatives. In this piece, well discuss how you can enjoy the residual effects of major companies upward stock moves without having to buy that companys stock. The weight of an Apple Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is a Dow component stock, which means it carries a lot of weight on the Dow Industrial Average. Happenings like when it has a product launch event can move its stock higher, or lower. Not only can this propel the market higher, or drag it down, it can also affect the prices of the companies it does business with directly. For this reason, you should consider companies, like suppliers, to invest in if you cant justify buying Apple at its current valuation, or just dont want to own a company like Apple directly. In the case of Apple, its suppliers, especially chip makers, see a boost in their stock prices on news that Apple foresees a greater demand in its products, such as the iPhone. Whats in the budget? When government budgets are assembled, focus is on which areas are in need of the most funding. For example, an increase in defense spending could be called for. On hearing this, consider the defense space and what companies stand to benefit the most. Missile and military aircraft manufacturers, as well as others whose offerings are in line with this budget need should be considered. This is where ETFs could be a good idea because they hold a basket of securities that can be filled to address specific industries, like defense. Mitigating risks You may have heard about the rage over cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. These are extremely volatile and risky investments that many advise to steer clear of. But what if you could invest in this high risk, high return phenomenon without losing your shirt, or your mind? You can, and that can be done by investing in the companies that are helping this industry grow. For example, without getting too technical, creating Bitcoins requires a process called mining that relies on computer graphic cards. The top makers of these cards are Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) and Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). In addition to making these cards that can be used in the risky, niche Bitcoin space, these companies offerings can be used by a multitude of other companies in various industries. That means any loss of Bitcoin-related customers are mitigated by the presence of customers in many other industries. In conclusion You may not be able to justify buying Apple, or a similarly high performing stock, or maybe you dont want to buy the stock, but that doesnt mean you cant capitalize on their gains. Investing in a supplier, or other entity that benefits from the company, could be a winner for you. The same is the case for spaces and industries that are on the cusp of seeing their products having increased demand. Take the time to study the interrelations companies have with larger companies, or within their industries. You will find that there are long-term investment opportunities that exist that wont cause you to increase your risks, but could increase your gains. Tweet Share Pin +1 Share 2018-01-08T15:39:28+00:00 By KvD|4 Comments

President Donald Trump, a great number of right-wing supporters, and many other individuals speaking out against the U.S. government has been censored. The extreme Big Tech censorship has driven a great number of social media participants to search for censorship-resistant alternatives.

*This post was updated on Jan. 10, 2021, to reflect Amazon, Apple, and Google’s takedown of the social media application Parler on Saturday afternoon.

In 2020 and into 2021, mainstream media alongside the help of Twitter, Google, Apple, Youtube, Amazon, and Facebook has managed to whitewash the corruption and scandalous acts caused by the U.S. bureaucracy. Following the large protest in Washington and the protestors who managed to enter the Capitol building; videos, pictures, and viral social media posts littered the internet capturing the day’s events. Then after it was all said and done, in a matter of mere hours, Big Tech and the social media giants started to purge many posts expressing dissent.

Privacy violations, blatant bans and an extraordinary willingness to appease increasingly authoritarian governments.

— russ (@RussellOkung) January 9, 2021

On January 7, Facebook announced the deletion of President Trump’s page and also said that it would be deleting all the commentary that shows “praise and support of the storming of the U.S. Capitol.” Facebook said they would also be deleting posts that call for peaceful protests, alongside pictures and videos of the Capitol breach.

— Rob Schneider (@RobSchneider) January 9, 2021

Facebook has further implemented a new feature asking the user if they are sure they want to post. The company has started to purge any dissent toward the American bureaucracy and plan to “update labels on posts” and add more fact-checkers. Facebook said the firm will leverage “AI to demote content that likely violates our policies.”

I guess the Twitter folks missed all the liberal blather about “unity.”

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) January 9, 2021

Additionally, Twitter decided to follow Facebook’s censorship path as well, and also banned the @realdonaldtrump account with 87 million followers. Twitter called the President’s account a “risk” that could further incite violence and called the Capitol building breach “horrific.” The company highlighted two tweets written by Trump and said that they glorified violence. Following the deletion of Trump’s account, Twitter also slashed the followers of a great number of voices who have shown any signs of a dissenting viewpoint.

— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) January 9, 2021

Further, left-wing supporters have applauded the censorship and a great majority of the bureaucrats have joined the purge as well. Some of them have even called on Apple and Google for the deletion of censorship-resistant social media apps like *Parler. Many progressives have fully supported the censorship of dissenting views, and are calling for even more censoring.

*Since this post was published, the freedom-of-speech-centric social media application Parler was removed from the Apple Store and Google Play. Alongside this, Amazon decided to shut down Parler’s servers down and the firm’s CEO John Matze said the application would be down for a week while they rebuild.

The intense censorship storm has invoked a great number of people to leave Twitter and Facebook and search for alternatives. Of course, there are decentralized alternatives that don’t use blockchain tech like Diaspora, Mastodon, Parler, Flote, Sola, and Manyverse, but there are many social media apps that do use blockchain tech.

A blockchain-based social media application operates just like the popular social media giants we all use today, but they also allow people to post content in a censorship-resistant and immutable fashion.

Right now there are a few blockchain-based alternative social media sites that allow people to speak and share content in an immutable fashion. Some of these applications have been operating for a few years now, and some of them are just starting to kickstart the social network. These platforms are also built on various blockchains like Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, IOTA, EOS, and more.

The application called Minds leverages the Ethereum (ETH) network and claims to be accessible to all, and says it is censorship-resistant as well. People looking for Youtube alternatives can try Dtube or Lbry. For instance, Lbry’s creators say the app is a decentralized content sharing and publishing platform that is wholly owned by its users. There are many types of social media applications that leverage blockchain, decentralization techniques like IPFS, and have created places where anyone can speak their minds.

As usual, the biggest downfall of all these applications is the lack of users, as most people have not gravitated toward decentralized social media. However, during the last few years as nation-states have ramped up censorship, and heightened the crackdown against anti-government rhetoric, these platforms have seen significant growth.

The best thing people can do right now is to start migrating toward social media applications that offer decentralization and blockchain censorship-resistance, because the dystopian world that looks an awful lot like Fahrenheit 451 or 1984 is surely upon us.

What do you think about the myriad of censorship-resistant and blockchain-based social media applications? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Purchase Bitcoin without visiting a cryptocurrency exchange. Buy BTC and BCH here.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

previous all-time high of $35,000, surging to $35,920 in the early hours of this morning.

Bitcoin’s market cap is currently standing at $640 billion, significant higher than this time last year when it was at $143 billion.

“Bitcoin has once again rocketed to an all-time high. Bitcoin’s market capitalisation has soared past the US$600 billion mark with the king of crypto on course to surpass the market caps of Apple, Google and Facebook.

BTCUSD chart by TradingView

Still, the elegance and technological brilliance of bitcoin represents a very different model. The scramble of institutional investors into the fray with orders to buy bitcoin are a stark recognition of the quantum leap that bitcoin technology represents.”

Bitcoin’s rise over the past 12-months has been attributed to a significant uptick in institutional investment, with the likes of MicroStrategy and Square initially investing $425 million and $50 million respectively.

However, as Bitcoin continues to break new highs, interest among retail investors is also beginning to increase with Google searches for “Buy Bitcoin” surging by 400% since September.

For more news, guides and cryptocurrency analysis, click here.

topped $1 trillion for the first time.

Following this news, Messari’s senior analyst said that cryptocurrencies might even get ahead in lesser time than tech giants such as Apple. He tweeted : “It took Apple 42 years to hit $1 trillion and another 2 years to hit $2 trillion. Crypto hit $1 trillion in 1/4 the time. Wouldn’t be surprised if the same held true for the second.”

Crypto hit $1 trillion in 1/4 the time

Wouldn’t be surprised if the same held true for the second 😉

— Jack Purdy (@jpurd17) January 7, 2021

Sharing a similar sentiment, founder of crypto exchange ShapeShift Erik Voorhees went as further to claim that the $2 trillion cap is barely six months away. He tweeted : “Took ten years. It will take less than six months to get to $2 Trillion. ”

To add on, Ripple surged by 30% to $0.30 , Ethereum jumped by 7% to $1,120, Binance Coin by 6% to $44.

Per data from CoinGecko , the crypto sector climbed five-fold last year. Indeed, the sector is getting hotter and hotter.

Commission (SEC) for a “VanEck Bitcoin Trust.” 

An ETF is seen as advantageous because it trades on the stock market in much the same way as shares in popular companies such as Apple and Microsoft. 

VanEck has previously proposed ETFs, withdrawing its most recent application in September 2019. At the time the company said it remained committed to an exchange-traded product. 

As it has in previous applications, VanEck said this ETF would trade on the Cboe BZX Exchange. 

So far the SEC has considered many applications for bitcoin-based ETFs and rejected them all. In August 2018, it rejected nine such proposals on the same day.

Read more: The Case for a Bitcoin ETF

In October, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton said the agency was still open to considering ETF proposals.

According to the application, the number of outstanding shares will depend on how much BTC is delivered to the Trust and held by an as-yet-undesignated custodian.

just above $770 billion and is followed closely by Facebook (roughly $767 billion).

Market capitalization is the total dollar value of a firm’s stocks, calculated by multiplying the total number of its outstanding shares by the current market price of each share. For cryptocurrencies, it similarly refers to the total number of coins in circulation multiplied by the current market price of each coin.

— Documenting Bitcoin 📄 (@DocumentBitcoin) January 8, 2021

However, Erik Voorhees, CEO of self-custody crypto platform ShapeShift, argued that cryptocurrencies’ road to their second trillion won’t take another 10 years. A lot less, in fact.

— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) January 7, 2021

“Crypto Market Cap: $1 Trillion. Took ten years. It will take less than six months to get to $2 Trillion,” Voorhees wrote.

But Bitcoin’s fight to break into the top 5 will be a challenge, with market caps in the range of trillions of dollars. For it to overtake Apple, it would need a price of $116,000—a lofty goal.

Twitter on 7 January and said : 

— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) January 7, 2021

As pointed out by the entrepreneur, earlier today, the total crypto market capitalization breached the $1 trillion mark. The surge in market cap can be seen in the graph below from CoinGecko :

There are many others in the sector who believe that the crypto market cap will continue to rise above the $1 trillion mark, especially as they see users looking for more ways to increase the value of their holdings.

Additionally, Paolo Ardoino, CTO at Bitfinex also expects the current crypto bull market to continue. In a release shared with AMBCrypto, he noted that Bitcoin’s market capitalization has soared past the $600 billion mark. If the trend continues, the CTO believed that the asset could surpass the market caps of Apple, Google and, Facebook. 

— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) December 3, 2020

Many believe that Bitcoin’s increasing prices are due to growing institutional investment in the crypto. Others think young investors are opting for Bitcoin instead of gold and other assets which could be affecting BTC prices. Recently, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh compared the two assets and said in a statement:

If Bitcoin never existed, gold would be rallying even more right now, but I guess if you are under 40, Bitcoin is your new gold.

Coinbase acquires Routefire to improve trading services

Cardano Price Analysis: 07 January

Alisha is a full-time journalist at AMBCrypto. Her interests lie in blockchain technology, crypto-crimes, and market developments in Africa and the United States

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impossible for someone to manually keep an accurate record of all their profits and losses at all times.

Even those who invest only in Bitcoin struggle to reconcile the amount they invested and the units of coins received, fees incurred, short term price growth, and at what percentage they will break even.

You will lose your mind if you hold up to 5-20 coins in your portfolio and try to repeat the cycle mentioned above.

Happily, though, the advent of crypto portfolio tracking apps means you no longer have to track the progress of your crypto investments manually.

In case you still do not understand what we're talking about or have not used any of such apps, we'll take a moment in the next subheading to define crypto portfolio trackers and how they work.

A crypto portfolio tracker is an application that lets you monitor the price of cryptocurrency assets that you invest in and how they are performing. It gives you an overview of how your coins increased or decreased in value over a certain period.

Most portfolio trackers require that you input buy and sell transactions manually. Others that support exchange API integration can pull your assets’ price on these platforms to give you an overview of their performance.

Some trackers also include an option for you to buy, sell, and exchange assets that you hold in your portfolio.

Now that we know what a crypto tracking app is and the purpose it serves let’s walk you through some of the best ones in the market right now.

Type: App

Free or Paid: Free

Blockfolio is by far the most widely used cryptocurrency portfolio tracker and for a good reason. The app has remained free to users since launching in 2014 and continues to integrate new features every p>Cons

App Rating: 4.7 out of 117,977 ratings

Download Links

Type: Web and Mobile

Free or Paid: Paid

CoinTracking is a sophisticated cryptocurrency portfolio tracker. The service launched out in Germany in 2013 and offered one of the complete solutions for managing your assets via a single platform.

App Rating: 4.5 out of 3345 ratings.

Type: Desktop and Mobile

CoinStats is a popular cryptocurrency research data provider launched in 2017. Among the company’s core products is a paid cryptocurrency portfolio tracker that offers slightly different features than Blockfolio.

App Ratings: 4.7 out of 8,341 ratings.

Type: Mobile

Free or Paid: Free & Paid.

Delta launched in 2017 as a Bitcoin and cryptocurrency portfolio tracker app and quickly captured a share of the market. Delta is owned by eToro, one of the best investment apps on the market today.

The app also supports the free tracking of stocks and other investment classes.

App Ratings: 4.3 out of 17,526 ratings.

CryptoCompare is a crypto resource provider and also provides an option for investors to track their portfolios. The app isn’t as sophisticated as the other crypto portfolio trackers we’ve considered so far. However, it offers enough functionalities and a simple interface for new investors.

App Rating: 3.9 out of 250 ratings.

Download Link

Type: Mobile app

If you’re an Apple user and looking for a cryptocurrency portfolio tracker, the CryptoPro app will likely be among the first options you consider. The app appears exclusively built for Apple devices and is available on iPhone, iPad, Mac & Apple Watch.

App Rating: 4.5 out of 582 ratings.

Download Link

Type: App

Paid or Free: Free

Zerion is a purpose-built cryptocurrency portfolio tracker. It is designed for crypto investors that put money in decentralised finance (DeFi) applications built on Ethereum. DeFi investors can use the app to earn interest in stablecoins, view their assets’ performance, and deposit assets to liquidity pools.

App Rating: 4.6 out of 617 ratings

It is easy to dismiss the importance of tracking their crypto portfolio, especially when you invest to hold for a long time. However, the following are some reasons why some investors prefer to track their portfolio.

Cut Losses: The cryptocurrency space is still nascent, and not all coins or projects eventually survive.

Actively tracking your portfolio gives you a chance to cut losses with projects that enter a period of steep decline, for instance, a 60% loss in a single day. You can then decide whether to ultimately sell off your holdings to cut losses, or simply swap them for another coin with more potential.

Rebalancing: Even in the traditional investment world, portfolio rebalancing is a recommended practice. It lets you get the most out of your best-performing assets and reduces your exposure to underperforming ones.

Using crypto portfolio trackers gives you a clear overview of how your investments trended over time and the assets you should accumulate, more or less.

Buying the dip: As we noted in our guide on the best time to buy crypto, savvy investors wait for a drop before adding to their portfolio. If you work another job, you probably cannot monitor the market to purchase crypto when the price dips.

However, you can take advantage of the price and portfolio alert features on tracking apps to know when the market dips and seize the opportunity.

From what we covered so far, we realise that different crypto portfolio trackers offer other functionalities. High-profile investors may need to install one or more of such applications to manage their portfolio correctly.

When you make a choice, here are the key features to keep in mind:

Security: Security is a scarce commodity in the crypto space, and the last thing you want is to give away access to your exchange or wallet accounts in the process of monitoring them via a portfolio tracker.

To this end, only use apps to provide advanced security features such as PIN lock, fingerprint authentication, Face Lock, two-factor authentication, etc. Also, confirm that the service has a flexible recovery process for restoring your data if you lose your device.

Supported Coins and Currencies: Most tracking apps support the most popular cryptocurrencies and a handful of fiat currencies. If you want to track a specific unpopular coin, though, or currency, then make sure to verify that the service supports it before you install the application.

Platform Design: The best crypto portfolio trackers are simple and easy-to-use for both new and experienced investors. Basic platform designs include a button for adding recent transactions, an overview of portfolio assets, and a news section.

Your choice of a portfolio tracking app depends on your specific investment needs and your portfolio’s size.

For instance, you can always use a free crypto tracker like Blockfolio or CryptoCompare if you don’t hold substantial amounts in crypto or do not want to invest in a paid app. On the other hand, professional traders and investors may need a paid version of CoinTracking, CryptoPro, or CoinStats to stay in charge of their investments.

If you invest in DeFi protocols, Zerion is your best option. If you hold stocks or ETFs and want to track them alongside your crypto holdings, you may want to use Delta app instead.

There is also no rule that says you cannot try out one or more apps to find out which one works best for you as an investor.

Using a crypto portfolio tracker is not difficult. After you install the application from the app store, you can take the following steps:

Monitoring your cryptocurrency investment used to be a challenging task, until the advent of crypto portfolio trackers.

Today, there are many such applications on the internet, and we reviewed in this article, the best portfolio apps that you can start using immediately. Hopefully, you can find the perfect match for your investment goals and enjoy the luxury of always staying in charge of your assets in a highly volatile crypto market!

2020.

Many funds, including Pantera Capital, are identifying growth in retail demand via PayPal’s brokerage Paxos, which also owns the itBit exchange and provides liquidity. Since PayPal launched cryptocurrency capabilities for its users, itBit’s BTC volume numbers have increased significantly.

The heat is on ether options

Ether derivatives, such as futures and options, are instruments traders are now clamoring for. On Deribit, the top venue for ether options, implied volatility, which is the forecast of an asset’s spot price movement, is 170%, according to data aggregator Genesis Volatility.

It was an odd day for Bitcoin to be breaking more records. On Wednesday, the state of Georgia had turned blue, giving the Democrats majority control in the Senate and paving the way for President Biden to have a free hand in enacting new policies.

A few hours later, as the Senate was about to certify the election results in Washington DC, an angry mob broke in to disrupt proceedings.

Biden is good for Bitcoin

While the scenes of chaos and violence dominated the headlines, the markets had a very different take. US traders, especially those who have benefitted from the boom in tech stocks powered by Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google were hoping that the Republicans held onto the Georgia Senate seats.

Indeed, all of those tech stocks were down yesterday with Apple down by as much as 3%, Facebook 2%, and Amazon 2.5%.

However, over on the Dow and S&P 500 - exchanges that aren’t as tech-centric - the news that Democrats now have a (tiny) majority in the Senate and a slim majority in the House, saw the Dow close at a record high on Wednesday, and the S&P 500 was up 0.6%.

Due to an apparent paperwork mixup, the deadline to submit public comments on a proposed US Treasury rule that would enable some financial surveillance of private cryptocurrency wallets was “quietly extended” until tomorrow, January 7.

Staff members for cryptocurrency advocacy organization Coin Center, digital rights advocacy group Fight for the Future, membership group Blockchain Association, and pro-privacy organization Electronic Frontier Foundation took part in a reddit AMA to discuss their efforts to stop a proposed rule from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the US Treasury Department that counters money laundering and the use of money for illegal purposes.

A 13% rise in the price of ETH over the past 24 hours has propelled Ethereum onto a list of the top 100 traded assets by market cap for the first time, as measured by CompaniesMarketCap.com.

Ethereum marched past 12 other entries on the list today and is currently positioned in the #88 spot, between Bristol-Myers Squibb at #89 and Anheuser-Busch at #87.

Up 62% in 2021 alone, the price of ETH crossed $1,200 today for the first time since Jan. 2018 and appears poised to overtake its all-time high set Jan. 13 of that year. This year’s gains translate into a $53 billion increase in Ethereum’s market cap, enough for it to overtake the market cap of several household conglomerates, including Wells Fargo, AstraZeneca, Philip Morris, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup.

Bitcoin — the only other cryptocurrency on the top 100 list — has also been on a tear through the rankings, surpassing Visa, Berkshire Hathaway, Alibaba and most recently Tencent, to move up to the #10 spot. With an estimated market cap of $12.19 trillion, gold sits atop the list by a margin of $10 trillion; its next closest competitor being Apple, at #2.

"AMA: STX on Top Traders" "Muneeb Ali to have a live AMA about Stacks 2.0 Mainnet Launch on KuCoin."

"Mandatory upgrade requires resync Hard fork 1/7/21: block height 1501000"

"Update: these incentive programs will launch at 00:00, January 7th 2021, China Standard Time. [11:00 AM EST January 6th]"

"Scheduled (Jan 7, 2021, 18:00 UTC): Hedera will be upgrading the Mainnet to v0.10.0 on Thursday, Jan 7th 2021 at 18:00 UTC."

"Trading: Jan 7, 2021 at 17:00 (UTC+8) | Trading pair: REVV/USDT"

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