Bitmain Confirms Release of First Ethereum ASIC Miners (CoinDesk.com)
Bitcoin mining hardware firm Bitmain unveiled its long-rumored ethereum mining tech on Monday. The Antminer E3 is set to ship this July, according to Bitmain’s website, at a price of $800 per unit. According to statements, the company is limiting orders to “one unit per user” with restrictions on shipping to China and Taiwan. As was perhaps expected, the listing quickly drew interest from would-be buyers. As of press time, the website indicates that the first batch has already sold out. Hints about Bitmain’s ethereum mining product first emerged in February, when China-based news site Technews.cn published details about the expected hardware.
Bancor’s New Wallet To Provide Cryptocurrency Conversion To The Masses (CryptoDaily.co.uk)
The Bancor network is an open source platform for cryptocurrency conversion. The main website is a hub for trends and market information and provides an easy method for converting values between cryptocurrencies at live trading rates. Their latest venture integrates this conversion system into a cryptocurrency wallet, that offers users instant coin conversion. The wallet, called Bancor Wallet, already has the capacity for conversion between 70 tokens, with more being added to the wallet daily. The Bancor Wallet takes the form of a mobile phone wallet.
Pixabay/Public Domain
Coinbase Commerce API Launches for Merchants to Accept Cryptocurrency (CryptoNinjas.net)
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange company Coinbase has announced the live launch of the Coinbase Commerce API for accepting cryptocurrencies. The Commerce API makes it accessible for merchants to integrate cryptocurrency payments straight into their e-commerce solution. As of now, instead of manually creating payment buttons or hosted pages to accept cryptocurrency payments, merchants can dynamically generate them using the Commerce API. Those interested can check out the developer documentation for more information. Coinbase Commerce is a new service that allows merchants to accept multiple cryptocurrencies directly into their own user-controlled wallet. Coinbase Commerce has been designed as a free non-custodial solution for accepting cryptocurrency, so merchants can maintain full control over their funds.
SEC Busts Celebrity-backed Cryptocurrency Scheme for Fraud (TheHill.com)
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday announced fraud charges against two men behind a $32 million cryptocurrency investment scheme hawked by celebrities such as Floyd Mayweather Jr. and DJ Khaled. Sohrab “Sam” Sharma and Robert Farkas, co-founders of Centra Tech Inc., were arrested and charged with several counts of fraud after allegedly duping investors through an “initial coin offering,” or ICO. Sharma and Farkas, through Centra, offered unregistered investments in the company through the sale of CTR virtual tokens, a cryptocurrency akin to bitcoin, Ethereum and other digital coins.
Ripple (XRP) is Getting Ready for an Agreement within an International Banking System (Billionaire365.com)
This week, a spokesperson from Ripple has made an interesting statement: the company is currently working with 40-50 international central banks, among which the Bank of Thailand. Specialists don’t know yet if the public relations representative aimed to officially announce this or if it was an accident, but they are sure that this step could open new ways for Ripple. In fact, the thing that puts Ripple in front of its competitors is the will to extend the collaboration with international banks and thus integrate into a central banking system that can work for many countries.
Swiss Researchers Forecast a Steep Fall for Bitcoin Price in 2018 (CCN.com)
If Metcalfe’s law applies, the bitcoin price has much further to fall. A group of Zurich-based researchers developed a bubble/crash report, predicting that bitcoin’s market value, which currently hovers at about USD 124 billion, will be slashed by approximately 37% to no greater than USD 77 billion by year-end 2018. It’s all based on a theory known as Metcalfe’s law. The findings may appear to chart the course for a bitcoin price that’s been under pressure year-to-date amid regulatory pushback from major bitcoin markets around the world. But by the same token, the bitcoin fog may be nothing that greater regulatory clarity could clear up. After all, the markets don’t like uncertainty.
Nano (NANO): If This Works, Bitcoin (BTC) Could Be Down And Out (StocksGazette.com)
A new name isn’t everything, but a really cool new name can be something. That’s my take on Nano (NANO) after it successfully rebranded, dropping the old moniker of Raiblocks (XRB). Much has happened across all of the crypto land ever since the February rebranding meet-up, especially the inevitable price slumps that have rocked all the major coins. But if anything came out of that rebranding, then it’s recognition that, here is a genuinely great cryptocurrency with a real-world use to it.
Abra CEO Unfolds Reasons Behind Choosing Litecoin [LTC]’s Smart Contracts Network (AMBCrypto.com)
Abra, the world’s first wallet and exchange to support 20 cryptocurrencies and 50 fiat currencies is a one of its kind exchange platform. The team chose to use Litecoin’s smart contracts network as the core of their applications protocol over all the others in the market. The CEO of Abra, Bill Barhydt had explained briefly about his choice of LTC’s network earlier this month. According to him, Litecoin was their second asset class, after Bitcoin, for their smart contract investment solution for 3 major reasons; First and foremost is the commitment to Bitcoin compatibility, core roadmap, p2sh support, lightning support, etc. Secondly, it has slightly better scalability than BTC in short term. Lastly, mining fee which is a short-term benefit would skyrocket if they were to be successful.
Monex Confirms Interest in Acquiring Hacked Cryptocurrency Exchange Coincheck (ZDNet.com)
Monex has confirmed interest in purchasing Coincheck but insists nothing is yet set in stone. On Monday, the online Japanese broker said in a statement that Monex has been “studying and experimenting” with blockchain technologies as the firm considers the creation of new finance-related businesses, infrastructures, and technologies as important. As a result, Monex is considering a potential Coincheck buyout but is yet to ink a formal offer.
Chile: Three Crypto Exchanges Dropped by State Bank (News.Bitcoin.com)
Chilean cryptocurrency exchanges Buda, Orionx, and Cryptomkt were given notice their accounts will be closed by Banco del Estado de Chile. This comes after the three were also targeted with account closings by Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. of Brazil and The Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank of Canada).
